The Pittsburgh Steelers are heading into the seventh week of the 2024 regular season which will be their second home game for Sunday Night Football. With six inactive lists down for the season, it should now be slightly easier to predict, but injuries are more the driving force. For Week 7, the Steelers have four players ruled out and two listed as questionable.

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 today to make any roster moves or practice squad elevations. If there is any significant roster move done later today, an update will be added.

Game Status

OUT:

LB Nick Herbig (hamstring)
C Zach Frazier (ankle)
RB/KR Cordarrelle Patterson (ankle)

QUESTIONABLE:

WR Roman Wilson (hamstring)
DT Montravius Adams (knee)

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

Definitely:

LB Nick Herbig– The Steelers get back one outside linebacker in Alex Highsmith, but Herbig is out another week.

C Zach Frazier– This one hurts a lot for the Steelers as Frazier has been making a name for himself at center his rookie season.

RB/KR Cordarrelle Patterson– There hasn’t been much of an update on Patterson and he did not practice again this week. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see him until after the bye.

Most Likely:

QB Kyle Allen– It’s no longer a question of who the third quarterback is on this team.

G Max Scharping– Once again, the Steelers don’t need nine offensive lineman dressed.

Possibly:

WR Roman Wilson– He’s questionable after being limited in practice the last two days. I would not be shocked if the Steelers want to keep Roman Wilson out of the lineup again.

DT Montravius Adams– Showing up as limited on the final day of practice and then having a questionable status is not a good place to be. Now with only six defensive linemen on the active roster, if Adams is going to miss time there would likely be a practice squad elevation.

TE Rodney Williams– If Michael Pruitt is back, I’m not sure the Steelers will need five tight ends. But based on other injuries they might have enough helmets.

Unlikely:

OT Dylan Cook– It’s not very often that a player who has been ruled out is in the unlikely category, but there’s no need for the Steelers to bring back Cook from IR as his 21-day window just started. Therefore his name won’t need to appear on the list.

Projected Inactive List:

1. Kyle Allen+
2. Nick Herbig
3. Zach Frazier
4. Cordarrelle Patterson
5. Max Scharping*
6. Roman Wilson*
7. Montravius Adams*

+3rd quarterback and will dress

Without the Steelers making any roster moves ahead of Week 7, they only need four names on the inactive list as they only have 52 on the active roster. Therefore, the three players who have been ruled out along with Kyle Allen as the third quarterback or the obvious choices. But the Steelers aren’t going to keep the roster this way.

I’m not sure exactly what the Steelers are going to do when it comes to their moves later today as they will likely tell a lot about the questionable players. They have an open spot on the roster and two practice squad elevations available to them. I assume they’ll bring somebody up for depth at outside linebacker as they don’t need to have another offensive lineman active. Which one they bring up I’m not sure.

One thing I am fairly sure of is if either Roman Wilson or Montravius Adams is unable to go, the Steelers will elevate another player at that position. If a wide receiver or defensive lineman is an additional player added, the likelihood of Roman Wilson or Adams getting a helmet goes down immensely. It could be just one of the two as well.

UPDATE: The Steelers announced three roster moves on Saturday which include the signing of an OLB to the 53-man roster as well as elevating a wide receiver and a running back:

Steelers announce roster moves prior to the Week 7 Jets game The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing for the New York Jets in Week 7, and they have made roster moves ahead of the game.https://t.co/WXXeC6IaUY

— Steel Curtain Network (@SteelCNetwork) October 19, 2024

The Steelers also announced the change in injury status by upgrading Montravius Adams to remove his questionable status but adding Damontae Kazee as questionable.

The #Steelers have downgraded S Damontae Kazee (ankle) to questionable for Sunday's game vs. the NYJ. We have also upgraded DT Montravius Adams (knee) to have no injury status designation.

— Burt Lauten (@SteelersPRBurt) October 19, 2024

With these changes, here is my new projection of Sunday’s inactive list.

Projected Inactive List:

1. Kyle Allen+
2. Nick Herbig
3. Zach Frazier
4. Cordarrelle Patterson
5. Max Scharping
6. Roman Wilson
7. Damontae Kazee

+3rd quarterback and will dress

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