Right when the Steelers’ cornerback depth issue was starting to work itself out with second-year CB Cory Trice Jr. emerging, he suffered a hamstring injury that landed him on IR. According to one Steelers insider, he is getting close to a return.
“Trice should be back soon I believe,” Gerry Dulac wrote via his Steelers chat on Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
It was a setback for Trice, who spent all of last season and most of the offseason rehabbing the major knee injury he suffered during training camp in his rookie season. But in the meantime, his main competition for the top backup spot was released from the roster. Darius Rush wasn’t providing enough as a corner and didn’t produce as a special teamer enough to be worth keeping around. Trice should pretty easily slot back into that top backup job once he returns.
He was injured during the Steelers’ Week 3 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, so he needs to sit out one more game before he is eligible to resume practicing. We will see next week if the Steelers open his 21-day practice window, but according to Dulac that seems fairly likely.
Prior to getting injured, Trice had two total tackles and an interception, which came in the end zone against the Denver Broncos. He played 29 total snaps and was charted by Pro Football Focus as allowing one reception on two targets for nine yards. His overall grade from PFF is an 86.2, including an 86.0 coverage grade and a 75.0 tackling grade.
Without Trice in the lineup James Pierre played 10 snaps against the Raiders and Beanie Bishop Jr. has been playing a larger portion of the total snaps. When Trice is able to return, that will balance things out a little better. It also won’t be long before Cam Sutton is through his eight-game suspension. The arrow for this secondary is pointing up as the Steelers approach the midway point of the season.
