The Pittsburgh Steelers play the Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday afternoon on the road, the team’s 16th regular-season game of 2024. If you’re like me, you’re counting down the hours until the game begins. I 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 Wednesday afternoon against the Chiefs.
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 out the game. 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 can also dress up to 48 players for games if eight offensive linemen are among them. The emergency quarterback rule is also still in place for the 2024 season.
CB Joey Porter Jr. – The Steelers won’t have Porter on Wednesday against the Chiefs as the second-year cornerback will miss the contest due to a knee injury sustained during the Week 16 game. Porter was officially ruled out for the Wednesday game on the team’s Tuesday injury report, and this will mark the first game that the former second-round pick out of Penn State will miss this season.
Porter’s ailment was initially termed a calf injury during the Week 16 game. He tried to return to that contest last Saturday but only made it another series before being sidelined for good. After last Saturday’s game, HC Mike Tomlin said that Porter had sustained a knee injury. With Porter sidelined on Wednesday, CB Cory Trice Jr. will once again dress and play. He and CB James Pierre might platoon against the Chiefs, with CB Donte Jackson manning the other side as he’s set to return to action after sitting out the last game with a back injury.
WR Ben Skowronek – Like Porter, Skowronek will also miss Wednesday’s contest against the Chiefs due to an injury sustained during the Week 16 Saturday game. In dealing with a hip injury, Skowronek was officially ruled out for Wednesday’s game on the team’s Tuesday injury report. Skowronek missed several games earlier in the season due to a shoulder injury that required him to be placed on the Reserve/Injured list.
Like Porter, Skowronek attempted to play through his injury last Saturday. However, he was unable to finish the contest. He failed to practice this week, and Tomlin indicated on Sunday that both Skowronek and Porter weren’t likely to have enough time this week to overcome their respective injuries.
While the Steelers won’t have Skowronek on Wednesday, they are expected to get WR George Pickens back against the Chiefs. The Steelers’ five wide receivers on Wednesday should be Pickens, Calvin Austin III, Van Jefferson, Mike Williams, and Scotty Miller.
DT Dean Lowry – The Steelers finally seem likely to get DT Larry Ogunjobi back from his groin injury against the Chiefs, as he ended the week off the injury report. Ogunjobi missed the Week 15 and Week 16 games because of that groin issue. Assuming Ogunjobi is indeed ready to play on Wednesday against the Chiefs, it could result in Lowry being inactive.
Lowry has been inactive for three games, including the first two of the regular season. He was inactive for the Week 13 home game as well. He played in several games this season due to injuries to other defensive linemen, including DT Montravius Adams, who returned from his knee injury in Week 15.
OLB Jeremiah Moon – Coming up with a fourth non-quarterback as a Week 17 inactive is tough. The Steelers are expected to get Jackson and SS DeShon Elliott back on Wednesday, along with Ogunjobi. Unless they make Trice inactive, something they aren’t likely to do, odds are good that Moon might draw the short stick.
While Moon does play extensively on special teams, he has only logged 104 defensive snaps so far this season, mainly due to Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig missing games due to injuries. While veteran OLB Preston Smith does not play on special teams, he is a better defensive commodity than Moon is. This will be an interesting decision, but I think Moon might find himself on the inactive list Wednesday for the first time this season.
QB Justin Fields – After missing the Week 16 game with an abdominal injury, Fields was officially listed as questionable on the team’s Tuesday injury report against the Chiefs. Fields was a limited practice participant on Tuesday, however. The Steeler’s practices weren’t all that expansive this week thanks to the short week, so that’s something else working against Fields this week when it comes to him resuming his backup quarterback role.
Fields was ruled out in Week 16, preventing him from being listed as the emergency third quarterback while on the inactive list. Assuming he is indeed inactive again on Wednesday against the Chiefs, he might at least dress as the emergency quarterback this time, with him ending the short week listed as questionable.
Should Fields wind up being the active backup to Wilson on Wednesday, QB Kyle Allen would obviously be inactive and be given the emergency third quarterback designation. We’ll see how this plays out, but my bet is that Fields ends up as the inactive emergency third quarterback against the Chiefs, with Allen being the active backup to starting QB Russell Wilson.
