The Pittsburgh Steelers play the Baltimore Ravens Saturday afternoon on the road, the team’s 15th 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 Saturday afternoon 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 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.
QB Justin Fields – Fields was officially ruled out for the Week 16 contest on the Thursday injury report. An abdominal injury sustained during the team’s Week 15 road game prevented Fields from practicing this past week. Fields sustained that injury on the one snap that he played last Sunday in Philadelphia, and he was ultimately ruled out for the remainder of that contest. This will mark the second time this season that Fields has been on the inactive list as a hamstring injury sidelined him back in Week 8.
With Fields inactive, QB Kyle Allen will serve as the backup to QB Russell Wilson against the Ravens. Allen had been the team’s inactive emergency third quarterback since Week 10. Prior to Week 10, Allen was active for several games while Wilson recuperated from his early-season calf injury. With Fields officially ruled out for Saturday’s game, it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to be listed as the team’s emergency quarterback against the Ravens.
WR George Pickens – The same hamstring injury that has prevented Pickens from playing in the team’s last two games will once again keep him from participating against the Ravens. Pickens failed to practice any day this past week, limited to just doing minor activities on the side on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The team officially ruled out Pickens for the Saturday game on its Thursday injury report.
After having an MRI on his injured hamstring more almost two weeks ago, speculation has since been that Pickens would miss multiple games. He reportedly sustained a Grade 2 hamstring strain. There’s a chance he might miss the Steelers’ Christmas Day game next week as well. With Pickens sidelined against the Ravens, look for WR Scotty Miller to dress in his place like he has the last two games.
The five wide receivers expected to dress and play against Baltimore are Calvin Austin III, Van Jefferson, Ben Skowronek, Mike Williams, and Miller.
S DeShon Elliott – Like Pickens, Elliott will miss the Saturday road game against the Ravens due to a hamstring injury. Elliott did not practice on Tuesday or Wednesday, but he was listed as a limited participant on Thursday. He ended Thursday listed as doubtful on the injury report, and the team downgraded him to out on Friday. This will mark the second game that Elliott has missed this season.
As was the case in Week 15, the Steelers will likely use CB Cameron Sutton and S Damontae Kazee to handle Elliott’s role with the safety sidelined with his injury. The Steelers will certainly miss Elliott as he has played well so far this season. It’s too early to tell if Elliott will be able to play next week on Christmas Day. The fact that he was at least a limited practice participant on Thursday should be viewed as a positive sign.
DT Dean Lowry – The Steelers seem likely to get DT Larry Ogunjobi back from his groin injury against the Ravens. Ogunjobi, who ended Thursday as questionable on the team’s Week 16 injury report, missed its Week 15 game with that groin issue. Assuming Ogunjobi is indeed ready to play on Saturday, it could result in Lowry being inactive. The team did not upgrade or downgrade Ogunjobi’s status on Friday so there is a tiny chance that he does wind up inactive on Saturday.
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, one of which was DT Montravius Adams, who returned from his knee injury in Week 15.
CB Cory Trice Jr. – This last inactive player is once again a bit tricky as it could go in a few different directions. CB Donte Jackson ended Thursday listed as questionable on the team’s injury report due to a back injury. Because of that, there’s a chance that he winds up being inactive on Saturday. I will, however, guess that Jackson will play against the Ravens. If that is indeed what happens, there’s a good chance that Trice winds up on the inactive list once again.
Trice has not yet dressed for a game since being activated from the Reserve/Injured list a few weeks ago. While the Steelers could have both Jackson and Trice active on Saturday, if that were to happen, it’s hard coming up with a fifth inactive. Keep in mind that Trice has only played 28 defensive snaps this season and 19 more on special teams. He’s missed nine games this season with a hamstring injury and two more on the inactive list.
