The Pittsburgh Steelers will play the Baltimore Ravens at home on Sunday afternoon in their thirteenth game of the 2022 regular season and if you’re like me, you’re counting down the hours until the game begins. As usual, I will attempt to project the Steelers inactives for every game of the 2022 season and below is my best guess as to which players won’t be given helmets Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium against the Ravens.
Game inactives are officially announced 90 minutes before kickoff, so make sure you check back at that time to see the names of the players for both teams who will be sitting the game out. Also, the new roster rules make this exercise even harder as team’s can elevate up to two players from their practice squads to their active roster for gamedays. Team’s also can dress up to 48 players for games if eight offensive linemen are dressed.
QB Mason Rudolph – The Steelers are now in Week 14 and Rudolph has yet to be active for a game as he remains behind fellow quarterbacks Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky on the team’s depth chart. That’s not a bit surprising, however. On Sunday against the Ravens, expect Rudolph to be one of the team’s inactive players for a thirtieth consecutive time. Barring injuries to either Pickett or Trubisky, Rudolph is likely to remain a healthy scratch for the team’s final five games of the season. He’s scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent during the offseason, so we’ve now likely seen Rudolph in a Steelers’ uniform for the last time.
G Kendrick Green – Like Rudolph, Green has yet to be active for a game this season and this comes on the heels of him being the team’s starting center for most of the 2022 season. This season, however, the Steelers have dressed eight of their nine total offensive linemen in their first twelve games and Green has been the odd one out in that position group for all those contests. The Steelers have been utilizing Jesse Davis and J.C. Hassenauer as interior offensive linemen backups on a weekly basis and both have been ahead of Green on the depth chart all season. Green was the team’s third-round draft pick last year, so he’s really considered a huge miss by the team at this point. It will take an injury at this point for Green to drees in any of the team’s final five games. He should be inactive on Sunday against the Ravens with the other eight offensive linemen healthy.
CB Josh Jackson – The Steelers did not activate cornerback William Jackson III off the Reserve/Injured list this week so for now, Jackson’s roster spot is safe. Even so, Jackson isn’t likely to dress on Sunday against the Ravens and especially with the Steelers choosing to dress an extra defensive lineman the last several games. The Steelers need five inactive players this week and it sure seems like Jackson will be one of them. He has been inactive for the last three games and that streak should extend to four on Sunday afternoon.
ILB Mark Robinson – The Steelers have dressed Robinson a few times this season but only due to injuries. The last time Robinson was active for a game was in Week 12 and he did not see the field in that contest. Currently, the Steelers are healthy at the inside linebacker position and the rest of the usual defensive players that are expected to dress on Sunday all appear to be healthy enough to play against the Ravens as well. In short, expect Robinson to once again be on the Steelers’ inactive list when it is turned in 90 minutes before kickoff.
DE Isaiahh Loudermilk – The Steelers activated rookie defensive end DeMarvin Leal from the Reserve/Injured list last Saturday and he wound up dressing for the team’s week 123 Sunday road game. That decision to dress Leal resulted in Loudermilk being one of the team’s five inactive players, just as I predicted would be the case. On Sunday, the Steelers are once again likely to address six of their seven defensive linemen and if that’s what ultimately happens, expect Loudermilk to be inactive once again. Loudermilk was an inactive player early in the season and for the first five games at that. He has been active for six games in total this season with most of those coming when Leal was on the Reserve/Injured list.
