Like Cory Trice Jr., the Pittsburgh Steelers are right where we are: sitting at home being mad. Although they managed to make the playoffs in 2023, they lost in the first round. It has now been seven years without a postseason victory, the longest drought in franchise history. The question is what to do next.
The first step is always taking stock of what happened and what is left. That’s part of the exit meeting process, in which coaches meet with each player. They discuss the season and their expectations moving forward—and potentially their role within it.
While we might not know all the details about what goes on between head coach Mike Tomlin and his players during these exit meetings, we do know how we would conduct those meetings if they were let up to us. So here are the Depot’s exit meetings for the Steelers’ roster following the 2023 season.
Player: Cory Trice Jr.
Position: Cornerback
Experience: 1 Year
The only 2023 draft pick who did not spend the entire season on the Steelers’ 53-man roster, seventh-round CB Cory Trice Jr. has a good excuse for that. He tore his ACL during training camp, so he spent the year on the Reserve/Injured List instead.
Accordingly, there isn’t much that we can say about Trice. The fact is the vast majority of us have never seen him. His injury occurred even before the first preseason game, so we don’t even have exhibition tape to go on.
All we have are excited accounts from beatwriters and descriptions from the first handful of training camp practices. Instead of spending this offseason training, he will have to focus on rehabilitating his injured knee.
Injury concerns directly affected his draft stock, as you might recall. He had a torn ACL in college as well, so this is now his second. Not long after his injury, he did say that he is “in a way better spot” with this tear than with his first while still in college.
As Steelers beat writer Bob Labriola indicated earlier this offseason, counting on Trice to be a significant contributor this year is overly optimistic. While not impossible that he recovers sufficiently and earns a role this season, the odds are against it.
As of this writing, the Steelers only have Joey Porter Jr. and Donte Jackson as cornerbacks with significant experience. They released Patrick Peterson. Levi Wallace, James Pierre, and Chandon Sullivan are all free agents.
2023 rookies Darius Rush and Trice, both Day Three picks, make up the rest of the prominent depth chart. You can throw Luq Barcoo onto the list as well if you want to depress yourself. Because, let’s face it, they need at least two more cornerbacks before they get into training camp.
Trice is a fun story of optimism and hope. He showed very intriguing talent in college, and perhaps he does have an NFL future. But first, he just has to get healthy and start figuring out what he’s doing, and that takes time.
