The Pittsburgh Steelers will play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday on the road to kick off their 2024 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 2024 season and below is my best guess as to which players won’t be given helmets on Sunday afternoon against the Falcons.
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.
G Isaac Seumalo – The Steelers will not have Seumalo, their starting left guard, for their Week 1 game against the Falcons due to a pectoral injury that he sustained during the first practice after the preseason ended. Fortunately, Seumalo’s injury isn’t one that will end his season. However, it could be serious enough for him to miss more than just the regular season opener on Sunday. Seumalo obviously did not practice this past week, and he was officially ruled out for Sunday’s road game against the Falcons on the team’s Friday injury report. With Seumalo sidelined for Sunday, second-year offensive lineman Spencer Anderson is expected to start in his place at left guard. Rookie G Mason McCormick is likely to be active on Sunday as well with Seumalo unable to play.
WR Roman Wilson – An ankle injury for Wilson, a Steelers third-round draft pick this year, will prevent him from playing on Sunday against the Falcons. While Wilson originally sustained his ankle injury early in training camp, he has still yet to fully recover from it. He missed all of the preseason and was only able to practice on a limited basis this past week. The Steelers officially ruled Wilson out for Sunday’s game against the Falcons on the Friday injury report so he will indeed be on the pregame inactive list. The hope is that Wilson, a Michigan product, might be able to begin practicing fully as early as next week. Even if that happens, however, Wilson might find himself on the inactive list for the first several games of the 2024 regular season.
DE Isaiahh Loudermilk – The Steelers generally only dress six defensive linemen for games and they currently have seven on their 53-man active roster. The Steelers’ top six defensive linemen appear to be Cameron Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi, Keeanu Benton, Montravius Adams, Dean Lowry, and DeMarvin Leal, who also can play outside linebacker. 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 1 inactive list. Last season, Loudermilk was inactive for just one game and that was likely due to Heyward getting injured during the 2023 regular season opener and missing several games moving forward. Barring injuries again along the defensive line in 2024, Loudermilk might find himself on the inactive list several times this season.
ILB Mark Robinson – On Saturday, the Steelers elevated WR Ben Skowronek from the practiced squad and in another move they placed rookie DL Logan Lee on the Reserve/Injured list. Lee had already been ruled out for Sunday’s game so that means another player will need to replace him on the inactive list, especially as Skowronek is likely to get a helmet to help on special teams. These two Saturday transactions are likely to result in Robinson being inactive and especially with fellow ILB Tyler Matakevich being the better special teams player of the two.
QB Russell Wilson – This is an extremely tough prediction and that’s because Wilson entered Saturday as questionable on the injury report due to calf tightness that developed during the team’s Wednesday practice. That calf tightness has led to quite a bit of speculation that backup QB Justin Fields will start on Sunday against the Falcons. If Wilson ultimately is deemed not healthy enough to start, it’s hard to imagine him being active as the backup to Fields. While anything can happen, it seems like it would be a reach for Wilson to have himself ready to play on Sunday. The Steelers would probably be wise to let him sit this one out just the same. My final guess as Saturday winds down is that Wilson will be inactive on Sunday and that QB Kyle Allen will dress in his place to back up Fields. I suppose there is a chance that Wilson could be designated as the Emergency QB for the game and thus dress in case he’s needed, something very unlikely to happen.
