The Pittsburgh Steelers play the Indianapolis Colts at home on Sunday afternoon, and if you’re like me, you’re counting down the hours until the 1:00 PM/EST contest begins. As usual, I will 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 Colts at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
Game inactives are announced 90 minutes before kickoff, so 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 are offensive linemen. The emergency quarterback rule remains in place for the 2025 season.
WR Scotty Miller – The Steelers once again won’t have Miller on Sunday as the veteran wide receiver will miss a second consecutive contest because of an injured figure that he sustained during practice ahead of the team’s Week 8 game. Miller, who has since had that injured finger repaired, failed to practice any this past week. The Steelers officially ruled Miller out for the Week 9 home game against the Colts on the team’s Friday injury report.
Sunday afternoon will mark just the second game this season that Miller has missed. In the team’s first six games, Miller registered one catch for 9 yards in 69 total offensive snaps played this season. Miller had also logged four special teams snaps so far this season. The Steelers will once again dress WR Ke’Shawn Williams with Miller sidelined with his injury.
S Jabrill Peppers – The Steelers will not have Peppers on Sunday against the Colts as the veteran safety will miss the Week 9 home contest with a quad injury. Peppers was officially ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Colts on the team’s Friday injury report. That decision came after he failed to practice on Friday.
Peppers seemingly injured his calf this past week in practice. He practiced fully on Wednesday and then showed up on the team’s Thursday injury report as a limited practice participant due to a quad injury. Sunday will mark the first time this season that Peppers has been on the inactive list since signing with the team back in Week 2.
S Chuck Clark – The Steelers won’t have the services of another safety on Sunday against the Colts ass Clark will also miss the home contest due to an illness. Clark did not practice on Friday due to that illness and that came after he practiced fully on Wednesday and Thursday.
While Clark officially ended Friday listed as questionable on the team’s Week 9 injury report, the Steelers downgraded his game-status to out on Saturday morning. This obviously means that he won’t play against the Colts on Sunday and thus will be on the pregame inactive list. Clark was previously on the team’s inactive list in Week 6 as a healthy scratch. He has played in six games so far this season and has logged 278 total defensive snaps to date to go along with 84 more on special teams.
ILB Cole Holcomb – Like Clark, Holcomb will also miss Sunday’s home game against the Colts due to an unspecified illness. After practicing fully on Wednesday, Holcomb popped up on the Steelers’ Thursday injury report as a nonpractice participant due to an illness. He then proceeded to not practice again on Friday, and the team listed him initially as questionable on their injury report entering the weekend.
On Saturday, Holcomb, like Clark, was downgraded from questionable to out on the team’s Week 9 injury report. This obviously means that Holcomb will be on the Sunday pregame inactive list as well. Sunday will mark the first game this season that Holcomb has missed. In the first seven regular season games, Holcomb logged 151 total defensive snaps and 72 more on special teams. Wil Holcomb sidelined for Sunday, the Steelers activated ILB Malik Harrison from the team’s Reserve/Injured list on Saturday and he’s now expected to dress and play on Sunday against the Colts.
OLB DeMarvin Leal – A healthy scratch once again for the team’s Week 8 home game, Leal has been inactive the last three games and mainly due to the team having their top four outside linebackers healthy. With all four outside linebackers fully healthy heading into Week 9, Leal is likely to be inactive once again on Sunday afternoon against the Colts. Leal has dressed and played in just two Steelers games this season after being signed off the team’s practice squad ahead of the Week 3 contest.
While nothing is guaranteed, the Steelers only need four outside linebackers (Alex Highsmith, T.J. Watt, Nick Herbig, and rookie Jack Sawyer) on Sunday against the Colts. With Leal still remaining fifth in that position group on the depth chart, it would make sense for him to be a healthy scratch once again on Sunday afternoon and thus one of the team’s six inactive players in Week 9.
G/T Andrus Peat – Not shockingly, Peat has been inactive for every game this season, and that is expected to carry over to the team’s Week 9 Sunday afternoon home game against the Colts and especially with G Isaac Seumalo (pectoral) being removed from the team’s injury report on Friday. Peat has served as a depth piece along the offensive line all season as he can play tackle and guard. While Peat did play some during the preseason, he has yet to take a regular-season snap for the team.
For the Steelers first seven regular-season games, the team has dressed OT Calvin Anderson over Peat, and we should probably expect to see a repeat of that again on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh. The Steelers should dress eight offensive linemen against the Colts. That list should once again include Broderick Jones, Troy Fautanu, Isaac Seumalo, Mason McCormick, Zach Frazier, Spencer Anderson, Ryan McCollum, and Calvin Anderson.
Related Items:Andrus Peat, Chuck Clark, Cole Holcomb, DeMarvin Leal, Inactives, Indianapolis Colts, injuries, Jabrill Peppers, predictions, Scotty Miller, Week 9
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