The Pittsburgh Steelers play the New England Patriots on the road on Sunday and if you’re like me, you’re counting down the hours until the 1 PM/EST contest begins. As usual, I will attempt to project the Steelers’ inactives for every game of the 2025 season and below is my best guess as to which players won’t be given helmets against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
Game inactives are announced 90 minutes before kickoff, so make sure you check back then to see the players for both teams who will be sitting the game out. Roster rules make this exercise even harder as teams can elevate up to two players from their practice squad to their active roster for gamedays. Also, teams can dress up to 48 players for games if eight offensive linemen are among them. The emergency quarterback rule remains in place for the 2025 season.
CB Joey Porter Jr. – The Steelers unfortunately won’t have Porter once again this weekend as the third-year cornerback will miss a second consecutive game due to a hamstring injury sustained back in Week 1. Porter, who failed to practice this past week, was officially ruled out for Sunday’s road game against the Patriots on the team’s Friday injury report. With Porter sidelined once again this week, he should be one of two defensive backs on the Week 3 list due to an injury. The Steelers will obviously dress all other healthy defensive backs on the team’s active roster on Sunday and that list of players should include new S Jabrill Peppers and CB James Pierre, who is mainly a special teams player. It will be interesting to see if the Steelers can get Porter back from his hamstring injury for the team’s Week 4 game in Dublin, Ireland.
S DeShon Elliott – Like Porter, Elliott once again will be inactive this Sunday against the Patriots due to an injury. Elliott, who like Porter, was injured during the team’s Week 1 game. Elliott is dealing with a knee injury that has prevented him from practicing for two consecutive weeks. The Steelers officially ruled Elliott out for the Sunday road game against the Patriots on the team’s Friday injury report. With Elliott missing a second game, the hope is that he might be able to return to action in Week 4 for the team’s overseas game. At worst, Elliott should be able to return to action in Week 6, which is the team’s first game following a bye in Week 5.
OLB Alex Highsmith – The Steelers won’t have Highsmith on Sunday against the Patriots as an ankle injury will prevent him from playing in that road contest. Highsmith, who entered last weekend with an ankle issue, according to the team’s final Week 2 injury report, was sidelined early during the team’s home game last Sunday. Steelers HC Mike Tomlin said this past week that Highsmith is dealing with an ankle injury now and one that could sideline the outside linebacker for more than just one game. With Highsmith unable to practice this past week, he was officially ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Patriots on the team’s Friday injury report. The Steelers signed OLB/DL DeMarvin Leal off the team’s practice squad this past week and he should now dress on Sunday against the Patriots with Highsmith sidelined by injury. Should Highsmith ultimately miss the Week 4 international game, hopefully he can return to action after the team’s bye in Week 5.
G/T Andrus Peat – As expected, Peat was once again one of the Steelers six inactive players for the team’s Week 2 game last Sunday. Peat, who was signed by the Steelers to a one-year contract during training camp, continues to serve as an extended depth piece on the offensive line as the team enters Week 3. He has not played since the preseason, however, and most of his best work during the exhibition contests this year came at left guard. The Steelers have decided to dress T Calvin Anderson over Peat the first two weeks of the 2025 regular season and we should see a repeat of that this Sunday when the team plays the Patriots on the road. The Steelers dressed offensive linemen for Week 3 are once again expected to be Broderick Jones, Troy Fautanu, Isaac Seumalo, Mason McCormick, Zach Frazier, Spencer Anderson, Ryan McCollum, and Calvin Anderson. It’s a good bet that Peat will remain a regular on the team’s weekly inactive list barring any injuries to the aforementioned eight offensive linemen.
RB Kaleb Johnson – The Steelers rookie running back out of Iowa got himself into the proverbial doghouse in Week 2 thanks to an error he made during a late kickoff return opportunity. That error resulted in a touchdown for the Seattle Seahawks and now Johnson seems to have lost his spot as one of the team’s kickoff returners for the immediate future. While Johnson has played a little on offense in the team’s first two regular season games, he’s only managed to log four total offensive snaps and just two touches of the football. Another clue that Johnson is likely to be inactive on Sunday comes in the form of the Saturday elevation of RB Trey Sermon from the team’s practice squad. Sermon can help out on special teams on Sunday against the Patriots and perhaps even log the two or so offensive snaps as well. While Johnson’s run on the inactive list could be a short one, you can probably bet on him being on the list for the Week 3 game due to the late error he made in the team’s Week 2 game. If for some reason Johnson is still active on Sunday, look for DL Esezi Otomewo to be the fifth inactive instead as he was a healthy scratch the first two games.
