Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — There has to be a level of frustration for Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Cory Trice after another injury has once again put in jeopardy his ability to contribute to the team — and this time, has his job itself in question.
But you wouldn’t know it to talk to the third-year cornerback out of Purdue.
At this point, Trice should certainly understand the best way to mentally deal with the setbacks that football can provide.
He torn his ACL as a junior at Purdue in 2021. Injury concerns pushed the talented, 6-foot-3 cornerback down to the seventh round in the 2023 NFL Draft, and then another ACL injury cost him his entire rookie season.
Last year, Trice earned a role on the team’s Dime package and made his first career interception against the Denver Broncos in Week 2. The following week, he suffered a hamstring injury that cost him most of the season. He ended up appearing in just six games.
This spring, Steelers general manager Omar Khan admitted that the continued injury issues had made it hard for the team to trust Trice with a larger role going forward.
“We really like Cory,” Khan said at the 2025 NFL Combine. “The reality is that durability has been an issue, and until durability is not an issue, that’s a position that we have to keep our eye on.”
The Steelers did more than keep an eye on it. Khan signed Darius Slay to start at outside cornerback, added inside-outside depth with Brandin Echols and then added Jalen Ramsey as a do-it-all weapon over the top, pushing Trice well down the depth chart.
Then he got hurt. Again. Trice suffered a hamstring injury in the team’s Friday Night Lights practice on Aug. 1 and has been out ever since, missing the entire preseason. Already pushed down the lineup by the team’s offseason additions, he’s now in jeopardy of not making the team altogether.
There are probably two spots for Trice, slot cornerback Beanie Bishop and key special teamer James Pierre, who replaced Trice as the punt gunner when he was hurt last season and has not yielded that job. Bishop is also banged up, missing the preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday. So it’s not a sure thing that Trice’s absence will cost him, but it has to be frustrating to not be able to state his case on the field. But you won’t hear those words from Trice’s mouth.
“You’ve gotta move past it,” he said. “You’ve got to just take what comes with the game. Injuries come with it, good plays come with it, bad plays come with it. You’ve got to be able to take whatever comes with it and weather the storm and be ready on the other side.”
For him, the other side is rehab, where he said he’s aiming for a Week 1 return to health, and feels like he’s ahead of schedule to reach that goal at this point.
“It’s going...
