The Steelers are now in their offseason after failing to reach the playoffs in 2022, coming up just a game short of sneaking in as the seventh seed. They needed help in week 18 and only got some of it, so instead they sat home and watched the playoffs with the rest of us.
On tap is figuring out how to be on the field in January and February instead of being a spectator. They started out 2-6, digging a hole that proved too deep to dig out of even if they managed to go 7-2 in the second half of the year.
Starting from the end of the regular season and leading all the way up to the beginning of the 2023 season, there are plenty of questions that need answered, starting with who will be the offensive coordinator. Which free agents will be kept? Who might be let go due to their salary? How might they tackle free agency with this new front office? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout this offseason, as we have for many years.
Question: Will Cory Trice Jr. sustain his momentum built during spring practices and claim a spot on the 53-man roster?
One of the problems with the offseason is the wide gap in time between the questions and the opportunity to start gathering answers. We are very frequently too high or too low on certain teams, or position groups, or players, before really getting a chance to see what they might look like during an upcoming season.
Offseasons often skew toward optimism, though, especially when it comes to the elusive draft diamonds in the rough. Every team every year hopes all of their draft picks work out, but Steelers fans this year are especially eager for seventh-round cornerback Cory Trice Jr.
Many scouts believed that he showed no worse than mid-round talent during his college career, yet he nearly fell entirely out of the draft, reportedly due to concerns about his medical background, including a 2021 knee tear.
Pittsburgh was happy to scoop him up when available late in the draft, of course, feeling comfortable with where he is medically relative to the value of the draft slot. And he reportedly had some strong moments during OTAs and minicamp.
But can he sustain that through training camp and the preseason? Are we rushing to judgement in virtually making him a roster lock before any of us have even got a look at him in the flesh wearing the black and gold—let alone in pads?
There are always young players who rise and fall at various points of the offseason and ultimately fail to make it onto the team. How many people thought back in 2015 that Doran Grant, a fourth-round pick, wasn’t a slam dunk? Optimism, though, is fine at this time of year, but the opportunity for information-gathering is now just around the bend.
