Steelers inactives vs Saints: Minkah Fitzpatrick has unexpected surgery

The Pittsburgh Steelers enter a must-win matchup against the Saints, but they won’t exactly be at full strength. Here are their inactive for Week 10. 

Thanks to their Week 9 bye, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had two weeks to rest and rejuvenate in preparation to face the New Orleans Saints. During the week off, the health status of this was looking very encouraging. T.J. Watt and Damontae Kazee were both expected to come back and Pittsburgh looked like one of the healthiest squads in the league to this point.

However, not all news is good. On Friday’s injury report, we learned that the Steelers will be without a pair of boundary cornerbacks for this must-win game. After getting benched against the Eagles due to surrendering two touchdowns, Ahkello Witherspoon still seems to be hampered by a hamstring injury that has lingered since early in the season.

In addition, William Jackson — who was acquired in a trade by Pittsburgh just before the deadline — has been placed on IR prior to this contest against the Saints. With two cornerbacks watching from the sidelines, the Steelers will be very thin at the CB position. Expect an uptick in snaps from CB James Pierre this week.

The biggest and latest news, however, is that All-Pro cornerback, Minkah Fitzpatrick will be absent from this game after having an emergency appendectomy. ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed that Fitzpatrick will miss multiple weeks. This is a huge loss for Pittsburgh.

The good news is that Myles Jack and Larry Ogunjobi — who didn’t participate in practice early in the week — were both full participants on Friday and are expected to assume their starting roles on Pittsburgh’s defense.

Steelers inactives vs Saints Week 10

The Pittsburgh Steelers are mostly at full strength this week, but they will be without a few key players — Fitzpatrick among the biggest. Here are all of their inactives for Week 10 as they get set to kick off against the New Orleans Saints:

• S Minkah Fitzpatrick
• CB Ahkello Witherspoon
• QB Mason Rudolph
• OG Kendrick Green
• LB Mark Robinson
• DB Elijah Riley

The bad news is that this team already lacks depth across the board, and the secondary (like it has at several points this season) is looking really shaky right now.

Fortunately, the Steelers will be getting back their star pupil this week. T.J. Watt should give this team a tremendous boost as his absence since Week 2 has been far too noticeable. Watt will have a tough matchup against one of the better right tackles in the league with Ryan Ramczyk, but even coming off a major injury, this isn’t causing for concern.

Meanwhile, Damontae Kazee could jump into a prominent role in the secondary from the gate — especially considering the injuries on the back end. I would expect him to be involved in nickel-and-dime packages today.

The Saints will be missing some important players of their own, including CB Marshon Lattimore, LB Pete Werner, and two offensive linemen. Pittsburgh clearly holds the upper hand in terms of both health status and preparation time, but the sudden loss of Fitzpatrick will prove to be a blow to the secondary. Mike Tomlin’s team must come away with a win this week despite some missing players.