The Pittsburgh Steelers will play the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at home to kick off their 2023 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 2023 season and below is my best guess as to which players won’t be given helmets on Sunday afternoon against the 49ers.
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 newer roster rules make this exercise even harder as teams can elevate up to two players from their practice squads to their active roster for gamedays. Teams also can dress up to 48 players for games if eight offensive linemen are dressed. The emergency quarterback rule is also back in place for the 2023 season.
QB Mason Rudolph – (Emergency 3rd) – The Steelers have Rudolph back again in 2023 and like last season, he should be the team’s third-string quarterback for every game barring injury to starter Kenny Pickett and backup Mitch Trubisky. Last season, Rudolph dressed for only one game, the one that Pickett sat out because of a concussion. While Rudolph should be on Sunday’s inactive list, he will dress and be ready to play as he should be designated the team’s emergency quarterback against the 49ers. The NFL brought back the emergency inactive quarterback rule for this past offseason. Rudolph only dressed for one game last season. He did not, however, see any playing time in that lone game.
T Dylan Cook – The Steelers should dress eight of their nine offensive linemen on Sunday against the 49ers. The top seven should be Mason Cole, James Daniels, Isaac Seumalo, Chukwuma Okorafor, Dan Moore Jr., Nate Herbig, and rookie Broderick Jones. That leaves rookie Spencer Anderson and Cook to choose from when it comes to which one dresses and which one doesn’t. With Anderson having slightly more position flexibility than Cook, and that includes center ability, I expect him to get the eighth helmet on Sunday against the 49ers. That should leave Cook as the odd offensive lineman out and thus one of the team’s five Week One inactive players.
DE Isaiahh Loudermilk – The Steelers generally only dress six defensive linemen for games. Their top six appear to be Cameron Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi, Montravius Adams, DeMarvin Leal, Armon Watts and rookie Keeanu Benton. If these are indeed the top six defensive linemen, that would leave Loudermilk out and thus a prime candidate to be on the Sunday Week One inactive list. Last season, Loudermilk was inactive for six games with five of those coming consecutively to open the regular season. If Loudermilk isn’t inactive on Sunday, and assuming Ogunjobi isn’t scratched after ending the week listed as questionable with a foot injury, Watts would likely be the next option to take his place on the list.
WR Gunner Olszewski – The Steelers open the 2023 regular season with six wide receivers on their 53-man roster. Only five are likely to dress for the Sunday home game against the 49ers, however. With second year WR Calvin Austin III likely to dress for his first NFL regular season game on Sunday, he should be the team’s punt returner against the 49ers. The other four wide receivers for Sunday’s game are easy to decipher and thus Olszewski should be the odd one out. We could see him on the list quite frequently throughout the 2023 season.
CB Desmond King II – The Steelers open their 2023 regular season with 11 total defensive backs on their 53-man roster. Because there are 11, one of them is likely to be inactive on Sunday against the 49ers. The newest member of the 11 is King, who was signed to the team on the last day of August. While King is very NFL-experienced, he still might be attempting to jump on the moving train, so to speak. Several of the other backup defensive backs are very special teams capable and that should allow those players to dress against the 49ers. Honestly, the decision as to which of the 11 winds up being inactive on Sunday will likely come down to Chandon Sullivan and King. I will guess that Sullivan will get a helmet on Sunday while King will spend his first game as a Steeler in street clothes as one of the five inactive players.
