The Pittsburgh Steelers visit the New York Jets on Sunday to kick off their 2025 regular season and if you’re like me, you’re counting down the hours until the 1 PM/EST game 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 Jets.
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.
_**QB Skylar Thompson**_ – The Steelers [added Thompson to their injury report](https://steelersdepot.com/2025/09/steelers-week-1-friday-injury-report-qb-skylar-thompson-suffers-hamstring-injury/) on Friday as questionable because of a hamstring injury after he was limited during practice earlier in the day. Thompson was already likely to be inactive as the team’s emergency quarterback against the Jets. Assuming he is healthy enough to suit up on Sunday, Thompson should be given the No. 3 emergency quarterback tag. Thompson made the 53-man roster due to rookie QB Will Howard suffering a finger/hand injury that sidelined him during the preseason. The Steelers ultimately placed Howard on the Reserve/Injured list ahead of Week 1 and he’ll likely remain on it for most of the season. Barring injuries to the Steelers’ top two quarterbacks in Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph, Thompson is likely to be on the team’s weekly inactive list as the emergency quarterback for most of the season.
_**DT Derrick Harmon**_ – A knee injury that Harmon sustained during the Steelers’ preseason finale will prevent him from making his NFL debut against the Jets. Harmon, who was the Steelers’ first-round draft pick this year out of Oregon, failed to practice this past week, and he was officially ruled out for Sunday on the team’s Friday injury report. Harmon might miss one or two more games before finally making his NFL debut.
_**G/T Andrus Peat**_ – The Steelers signed Peat, a first-round draft pick of the New Orleans Saints in 2015, to a one-year contract during training camp. While Peat played in all three Steelers preseason games, he mostly played at left guard. T Calvin Anderson is healthy following his early training camp injury and because of that, he’s likely to be the Steelers’ Week 1 swing tackle and primary backup to starters Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu, both former first-round draft picks. Additionally, backup interior offensive linemen, Spencer Anderson and Ryan McCollum, are both expected to dress on Sunday against the Jets. The Steelers are expected to dress eight of the 10 offensive linemen on their 53-man roster on Sunday. If that’s the case, Peat will likely be one of the two offensive linemen who are inactive against the Jets.
_**G/C Max Scharping**_ – As stated above, the Steelers are only expected to dress eight of the 10 offensive linemen on their 53-man roster against the Jets. This should result in two Andersons, Calvin and Spencer, dressing as backups along with McCollum. With Peat likely to be one of the two inactive offensive linemen on Sunday, there’s an incredibly good chance that Scharping won’t dress for the Week 1 game as well. Scharping was inactive for the seven regular-season games in 2024 that he was on the Steelers’ 53-man roster. Barring any injuries to other offensive linemen, there’s a good chance that Scharping will be on the inactive list several more times throughout the 2025 season.
_**DT Logan Lee**_ – Will Sunday be the NFL debut of Lee, who spent his rookie season on the Steelers’ Reserve/Injured list? I kind of doubt it, especially with it looking like the OLB Nick Herbig might be able to play against the Jets after ending the week as questionable on the injury report due to a hamstring issue. Lee only played 48 defensive snaps during the preseason and most of those weren’t overly impressive. Even without Harmon — and with Lee possibly inactive on Sunday — the Steelers would still have six total defensive linemen active for their game against the Jets. That assumes DT Cameron Heyward will not sit out Sunday due to issues with his contract. Obviously, if Herbig is not healthy enough to play on Sunday, he will occupy this inactive spot instead of Lee.
_**WR Scotty Miller**_ – The Steelers, as expected, elevated CB James Pierre [from their practice squad on Saturday](https://steelersdepot.com/2025/09/steelers-elevate-cb-james-pierre-ahead-of-jets-game/), and he will be a gunner on special teams and serve as a a backup in the secondary. Pierre’s elevation means the Steelers will need six inactive players against the Jets. Does the team really need all five wide receivers active on Sunday? I kind of doubt it, especially with the team expected to dress all four of its tight ends. While Miller sure did show a lot during the preseason, he doesn’t offer much in the way of special teams value. So, assuming only four wide receivers are active on Sunday, it feels like Miller might just be the odd one out and thus inactive.