The Pittsburgh Steelers will play the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday on the road, and this will be the team’s fourth regular season game of 2024. 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 2024 season and below is my best guess as to which players won’t be given helmets on Sunday afternoon against the Colts.
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 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 still in place for the 2024 season.
TE MyCole Pruitt – Pruitt was officially ruled out for the Steelers Week 4 road game against the Colts on the team’s Friday injury report. Pruitt, who played in the Steelers’ first two games, sustained a knee injury late in the team’s Week 2 road game and that subsequently prevented him from practicing on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for a second consecutive week. With Pruitt sidelined with his injury last week, TE Rodney Williams dressed and played on Sunday against the Chargers after being signed off the team’s practice squad last week. Expect Williams to do the same on Sunday against the Colts.
The timetable for Pruitt’s return is currently unclear but the fact that the team has yet to place him on the Reserve/Injured list should be taken as a positive sign overall. It will, however, be interesting to see if he can return to practice next week and even if it’s just in a limited capacity.
RB Jaylen Warren – A knee injury will result in Warren missing the Sunday game against the Colts. It will mark just the second game that Warren has missed during his NFL career as well. The last game he missed was in 2022 and it was due to a hamstring injury. Warren was pulled from the Steelers Week 3 Sunday home game against the Chargers because he didn’t seem to be 100 percent. He subsequently failed to practice on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and he ultimately was officially ruled out on the Friday injury report.
With Warren sidelined this week, the Steelers elevated RB Aaron Shampklin from the team’s practice squad on Saturday and he’s now expected to dress and play on Sunday against the Colts. We’ll have to wait and see if Warren’s knee injury is serious enough to result in him missing additional games past Sunday. Regardless, he will be on the Sunday inactive list that is released 90 minutes ahead of kickoff against the Colts.
OLB Alex Highsmith – Like Pruitt and Warren, Highsmith was also officially ruled out for Sunday’s road game against the Colts on the team’s Friday injury report. Highsmith sustained a groin injury during the team’s Week 3 home game against the Chargers and it prevented him from finishing that contest. Highsmith also dealt with a groin injury during the preseason as well. Highsmith last missed a game early in the 2021 regular season and that was also due to a groin injury.
The early word when it comes to Highsmith’s future past Sunday is that he figures to miss at least the Week 5 home game against the Dallas Cowboys as well. Obviously, he could go on to miss the Week 6 game as well. At the very least, it would not be surprising to see Highsmith ultimately sidelined until at least Week 8. With Highsmith sidelined, second-year OLB Nick Herbig is expected to start in his place. A positional versatile DeMarvin Leal is also expected to see playing time at outside linebacker on Sunday against the Colts.
G Isaac Seumalo – The Steelers will likely not have Seumalo, their starting left guard, on Sunday as he is still working his way back from a pectoral injury that he sustained right before the 2024 regular season got underway. While Seumalo did not practice any this past week and because of that he ultimately ended up being officially ruled out for the Week 3 home game on the team’s Friday injury report. Ending the week officially listed as doubtful for Sunday’s road game against the Colts, Seumalo was able to be a limited practice participant on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That means that there’s a good chance that Seumalo will be ready to return to action in Week 5.
With Seumalo once again out this week, rookie G Mason McCormick is expected to make his first NFL start on Sunday against the Colts. While McCormick has logged several snaps so far this season, he has rotated into games behind Spencer Anderson at left guard and also as a sixth offensive lineman. We’ll have to see if McCormick is allowed to play the entire game at left guard against the Colts. There’s a good chance that ultimately happens.
QB Russell Wilson – With three regular season games now in the books, Wilson is still dealing with a calf injury that resulted in him being the inactive emergency quarterback for the team’s first three contests of 2024. Wilson, who was once again listed as a limited practice participant on the team’s injury report all three days this past week, is once again likely to be on the inactive list on Sunday against the Colts.
Wilson officially entered the weekend listed as questionable for Sunday and that has been his pregame status designation for the first three weeks of the regular season. With Wilson once again likely to be listed on the Steelers Sunday inactive list as the emergency third quarterback, expect QB Kyle Allen to serve as the Sunday backup to starting QB Justin Fields against the Colts.
S Terrell Edmunds – The Steelers have made Edmunds a gameday inactive player since signing him off the practice squad of the Jacksonville Jaguars a few weeks ago and there really is no reason to think that he won’t be on the list once again on Sunday. Entering Saturday morning, there was a chance that Edmunds might avoid the Steelers Week 4 inactive list due to there being so many injured players that would not be able to play against the Colts. However, the Steelers ultimately elevated CB Thomas Graham Jr. from the team’s practice squad on Saturday and that move is now likely to result in Edmunds being inactive once again on Sunday.
With Edmunds expected to be inactive again on Sunday, look for S Jalen Elliott to be active. Elliott, who was inactive for the team’s regular season opener, has since dressed and played in the last two games and mainly because of his special teams abilities.
CB Darius Rush – Will Sunday finally be the NFL debut of Steelers rookie WR Roman Wilson? We thought there might be a shot that would happen last Sunday but unfortunately Wilson found himself on the inactive list once again due to the team’s decision to dress an extra defensive lineman in Dean Lowry. Against the Colts, Lowry is expected to dress and play once again. Assuming that’s the case, either Wilson or Rush will likely land in the final inactive list spot.
The Steelers elevated both Graham and RB Aaron Shampklin from the practice squad on Saturday and both are now likely to be active on Sunday as a result of these transactions. With Graham being a versatile cornerback, I think there’s a chance that his elevation results in Rush being inactive a second consecutive week. Rush has not been great on special teams this season. Wilson, however, has even less special teams value than Rush does. All told, this last spot could go either way between Rush and Wilson. I will, however, roll the dice and say that Sunday will mark the NFL debut of Wilson as it feels time for that to happen.
