The Pittsburgh Steelers are heading into the thirteenth week of the 2025 regular season as they continue into the final third of the NFL season. With eleven inactive lists down for the season, things should be getting slightly easier outside of players with a questionable status. But with nobody questionable and just two players ruled out at positions carrying extra players on the roster, there will be at least one player inactive who has been playing recently.

The rules in the 2025 season when it comes to the players active on game day have been carried over from the last five seasons with one additional caveat introduced two years ago. 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 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 (not elevated from the practice squad) 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 roster move done later today, an update may be added.

Game Status

OUT:

OT Broderick Jones (neck)
DL Derrick Harmon (knee)

QUESTIONABLE:

None

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

Definitely:

OT Broderick Jones– I hope this injury doesn’t linger too long.

DL Derrick Harmon– The same can be said for Harmon as was said for Jones.

Most Likely:

QB Will Howard– It’s just great to see him in uniform on the sidelines, even if it only is in case of emergency.

Possibly:

DT Logan Lee– The last time he was active was in Ireland. Even with one injury it might not be enough for Lee to get back on the field.

DT Brodric Martin-Rhodes– If he is not the choice to be active in place of Harmon this week, then his spot on the 53-man roster may be in danger as the required three weeks are up.

WR Scotty Miller– He’s only getting a handful of snaps between offense and special teams. The Steelers have had the luxury of having six wide receivers active and I don’t think they have that this week.

WR Ke’Shawn Williams– All he does is return kickoffs. If the Steelers really needed the active spot they could have someone else, such as Scotty Miller, do it.

S Sebastian Castro– With all players in the secondary now healthy, I’m assuming Casto is the last man of the total depth chart between corners and safeties.

Unlikely:

S Chuck Clark & Jabrill Peppers– both of these players have been inactive before, but I think Casto would be the choice before them.

RB Kaleb Johnson– He didn’t play a single snap last week, but I don’t think it would be smart for the Steelers to go into the game with only two running backs.

Projected Inactive List:

Will Howard+
Broderick Jones
Derrick Harmon
Logan Lee
Scotty Miller

+3rd quarterback who will dress

This is another one of those weeks where I don’t know that the Steelers are going to make any practice squad elevations. The two players who have been ruled out are both at a position where the Steelers already have somebody inactive each week. So it could just be a swap out of players and the Steelers don’t need to add more bodies.

The top three names on this list are obvious. The next one comes down to either Lee or Martin-Rhodes. To me, I don’t know why the Steelers would keep Martin-Rhodes if they still won’t play him even with an injury. I think he might get the chance to have a handful of snaps in this game. But I’m not completely convinced, only just taking my best guess.

The last spot on the list truly is a guess for me. I’m going with Scotty Miller as I don’t see that he brings anything significant to the Steelers either offensively or on special teams. While an argument could be made his five snaps are more important than the zero snaps of someone like Kaleb Johnson, going into a game with two running backs would be ridiculous. This is a tough decision so this is who I’m going with, although if Scotty MIller could take Ke’Shawn Williams’ spot on kickoff that would be another option.

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