The Pittsburgh Steelers’ rare feat of retaining their entire 2023 rookie draft class came with a minor caveat: seventh-round CB Cory Trice Jr. spent his entire rookie season on the Reserve/Injured List. He tore his ACL during training camp, though he seemed to have good odds of making the team.
The question that follows, of course, is what can he do moving forward? His focus at the moment is rehabbing his injury. He told reporters in September that he felt in a better position to come back from this knee injury in comparison to his college injury.
But how much can you count on a seventh-round cornerback who tore his ACL during his rookie training camp? The fact of the matter is that a lot of fans had visions of him starting across from second-round CB Joey Porter Jr. without having ever seen him for themselves.
“Maybe [Cory] Trice is able to come back from a second knee injury to carve out a career for himself in the NFL, or maybe whatever edge he seemed to have will be lost because of that second knee injury,” Bob Labriola recently wrote for the Steelers’ website in an Asked and Answered segment.
“From the team’s standpoint, I believe it would be overly optimistic to view Trice this offseason as a potential starter opposite Joey Porter Jr. or even as someone who can play significant regular-season snaps in 2024”.
That’s the blunt reality of it. Trice is gravy right now. We’re just eating our mashed potatoes, which is fine, but anything on top of it is just that much better. You can’t count on gravy, but you sure appreciate having it.
Though he fell to the seventh round, Trice garnered good reviews for his actual play. Medical concerns caused him to fall in the draft, largely due to his previous ACL tear. His athletic profile is great, and his tape is more than solid.
He even received strong reviews for his performance during the offseason program and training camp prior to his injury. But the reality is he never even got inside a stadium. We’ve all seen how deceiving preseason results can be. Imagine the disparity between the regular season and a training camp practice.
The Steelers looked for the long, physical cornerbacks last offseason and found them in Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr. They fit the profile of how they want to play on defense. Having the right body is only one part of the equation, though.
You also have to know how to use it. And you have to be able to use it. Now Trice has yet another hurdle in front of him with this rehab, which will rob him of on-field growth. But the team does need cornerbacks.
Levi Wallace and James Pierre are both free agents, as is Chandon Sullivan. Patrick Peterson’s future isn’t certain. The secondary may look very different in 2024. That only gives Trice a better chance of sticking around.
