The Pittsburgh Steelers are heading into the tenth week of the 2024 regular season coming out of their bye. With eight inactive lists down for the season, it should now be slightly easier to predict, but changes to the roster over the last two weeks have things a little more difficult. For Week 10, the Steelers have two players ruled out and two who are questionable but not yet back on the 53-man roster from the Reserve/Injured List.

The rules in the 2024 season when it comes to the players active on game day have been carried over from the last four seasons with one additional caveat introduced last year. As long as a team has eight offensive linemen who will be dressing for the game, they could have 48 players on their active roster rather than the 46 in past years. If the Steelers elevate any players from their practice squad, their inactive list would increase by the same number of players. The one change since last season is one quarterback on the inactive list can be designated as the “third quarterback” and will be in uniform, but they can only enter if the other two quarterbacks are injured. The player must be on the 53-man roster and will be designated when the inactive list is released 90 minutes prior to kickoff.

Playing on Sunday, the Steelers have until 4 PM Saturday to make any roster moves or practice squad elevations.

Game Status

OUT:

LB Nick Herbig (hamstring)
S Terrell Edmunds (illness)

QUESTIONABLE:

*WR Ben Skowronik (shoulder)
*LB Tyler Matakevich (hamstring)

*Not on the 53-man roster

Here are the possibilities to end up inactive for the Steelers against the Commanders on Sunday:

Definitely:

LB Nick Herbig– It’s disappointing that Herbig couldn’t make it back coming out of the bye, but next week he has a chance.

S Terrell Edmunds– It’s not often an illness keeps a player out of the game, but Edmunds did not practice all week.

Most Likely:

QB Kyle Allen– He’ll be in uniform again, but it looks like Justin Fields is back and fine as the backup.

G Max Scharping– With Zach Frazier back in the lineup, the Steelers have an extra offensive lineman and Sharpling has been the one inactive in the past.

Possibly:

CB C.J. Henderson– He was inactive in the Steelers last game, and with the return of Cam Sutton I don’t think it helps Henderson’s chances of getting a helmet.

RB Jonathan Ward– He was the choice for the Steelers third running back and was active on special teams, but with Cordarrelle Patterson back from injury there may not be enough helmets to go around for Ward.

Unlikely:

WR Mike Williams– Since he just joined the team, there’s always a chance the Steelers would have Williams inactive the first game. But unless they bring up someone from the practice squad or sign Ben Skowronik back to the 53-man roster, Williams should be in uniform and getting some snaps.

LB Preston Smith– Much like Mike Williams, there was a chance Preston Smith would need a game off before being ready to be in the Steelers lineup. But with Nick Herbig out, the Steelers should be getting Smith into the lineup.

Projected Inactive List:

1. Kyle Allen+
2. Nick Herbig
3. Terrell Edmunds
4. Max Scharpling
5. C.J. Henderson
6. Jonathan Ward*

+3rd quarterback and will dress

What is hard this week is figuring out if the Steelers are going to make any moves with their roster ahead of the game. I wouldn’t be shocked if they don’t activate Tyler Matakevich or Ben Skowronek, but it’s entirely possible. If so, that changes everything, but likely the player who would be released is probably already on this list. In past weeks there was always a possibility of a player going on IR, but it doesn’t look to be that way this time.

As for any practice squad elevations, the Steelers are pretty good from a health standpoint, but they only have five defensive lineman on the roster. That’s one position that I see that could be used, but they wouldn’t have to.

With all that in mind, the two players who are ruled out and Kyle Allen are obvious. Although it could be someone like Calvin Anderson, I think Max Sharpling is the fourth name for sure.

Where things get tricky is the final player on the list if there are no other additions to the roster. I went with C.J. Henderson again because of Jonathan Ward playing special teams. I could also see the Steelers elevating a practice squad player or bringing back someone else on the 53 and Ward being on the chopping block. I guess we’ll just have to wait until 4 PM to see.

UPDATE: With the Steelers activating Matakevich and Skowronek and releasing Jonathan Ward and Terrell Edmunds, it changes things so and the Steelers will only have 5 inactives. Here is the updated projection:

Projected Inactive List:

1. Kyle Allen+
2. Nick Herbig
3. Max Scharpling
4. C.J. Henderson
5. Scotty Miller

+3rd quarterback and will dress

I’m taking a shot and say the Steelers have Mike Williams active but they don’t need a sixth wide receiver with Skowronek coming back. So I’m guessing Scotty Miller as inactive even though he was not outlined before these moves.

As always, feel free to list your projected inactives in the comments below.