The Pittsburgh Steelers are now less than 90 minutes away from their kickoff to the 2023 NFL season. Hosting the San Francisco 49ers, one would assume the eight seasons since the Steelers faced the 49ers in Pittsburgh would be the longest streak coming to an end, but in fact the Steelers of hosted San Francisco since the last time they played at home in Week 1 in 2014.

As is always the case, 90 minutes before kickoff is when teams must announce their inactive list for the upcoming game. With 48 players active for each team, the number of players on the inactive list depends on if a team makes any practice squad elevations. With the Steelers not elevating any players on Saturday, their inactive list is five players while the 49ers have seven players due to their two practice squad elevations.

New to the 2023 season is a modified return of the “third quarterback rule.” Every NFL team who has a third quarterback on their 53-man roster will include him on their inactive list, but he is designated as a third quarterback and is therefore in uniform in case of injury to the two players ahead of him on the depth chart. But if one of the players is deemed healthy enough to return, the third quarterback goes back to their role on the sideline.

Here are the five players inactive for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Week 1 against the 49ers according to Steelers.com.

Steelers Inactives
No. 2 QB Mason Rudolph (3rd QB)
No. 25 CB Desmond King
No. 60 T Dylan Cook
No. 89 WR Gunner Olszewski
No. 94 NT Armon Watts

The only player with an injury status for the Steelers coming into the game was defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi. Limited each day this week in practice, Ogunjobi was questionable for today’s matchup. But Ogunjobi is active for the Steelers and therefore defensive lineman Armon Watts is inactive for today’s game.

Mason Rudolph is on the list as the Steelers third quarterback and will be in uniform which is an upgrade from last season. Joining Rudolph on the inactive list is the Steelers ninth offensive lineman Dylan Cook. With Cook inactive, Spencer Anderson gets a helmet in his first potential NFL game as a 2023 seventh-round draft pick.

The other offensive player inactive for the Steelers is wide receiver Gunner Olszewski. With the Steelers having five other wide receivers as well as three tight ends, Olszewski is the odd man out. While the other option for the Steelers to have inactive would be running back Anthony McFarland, he will serve as the Steelers primary kick returner.

With 11 players in the defensive secondary on the roster, the Steelers have made newly acquired Desmond King inactive for his first game. Joining the Steelers August 30th, King likely needs more time to get up to speed in order to factor better in the Steelers defensive game plan.

As for the 49ers inactive list, they can be seen below. Most notably, tight end George Kittle and coredrback Charvarius Ward are active for the game despite being listed as questionable.

49ers Inactives
No. 9 TE Brayden Willis
No. 17 QB Brandon Allen (3rd QB)
No. 32 RB Tyrion Davis-Price
No. 50 ILB Jalen Graham
No. 53 ILB Dee Winters
No. 63 G Nick Zakelj
No. 93 DT Kalia Davis