The Pittsburgh Steelers are just weeks away from cutting roughly 40 percent of their 90-man roster down to just 53 players. With several deep positional grounds this year, you can bet that talented players and former draft picks will miss the final cut. Sadly, Cory Trice Jr. could be one of them.
Even after the Steelers' offseason cornerback additions of Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, and Brandin Echols, Trice appeared to be in line as the team's fourth cornerback and was the frontrunner to land the 'dime backer' role on defense.
But those hopes are quickly dwindling.
Trice suffered a hamstring injury in Pittsburgh's annual Friday Night Lights practice on August 1 at Steelers training camp. Two weeks later, the talented cornerback still hasn't returned to the field. What once looked like a golden opportunity to carve out a role on defense now looks like a prayer to make the final roster.
Trice has missed over two straight weeks of practice, and he's running out of chances.
The Pittsburgh Steelers could end the Cory Trice Jr. experiment on roster cutdowns
When it comes to Trice, it was never about the talent. At 6'3'' and 206 pounds with long arms, smooth hips, and ball skills, Trice moved like a much smaller cornerback but had the size and physicality to match up with practically any receiver.
In Week 2 of the 2024 season, Trice was looking like a future star. Against the Denver Broncos, the talented cornerback allowed one reception on three targets while recording an interception in the endzone. This equated to a 33.3 passer rating from quarterback Bo Nix when throwing toward Trice.
Unfortunately, Trice injured his hamstring early in the following game against the Chargers and would miss the next 11 contests. Injuries have been the story of his career so far, and it's why he fell to the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
After dealing with season-ending ankle and ACL injuries at Purdue, Trice's entire rookie season was lost to an ACL injury early in his first training camp. After missing significant time in year two, Trice finds himself unable to see the field once again.
With a deep group of cornerbacks this year, Mike Tomlin and the coaching staff aren't going to be patient with Trice this time around. The Steelers need to find postseason success, and Trice simply can't be counted on to see the field.
We don't know how long this hamstring injury could linger for the big cornerback, but with each passing day that he doesn't return to the practice field, we can assume his chances of making the roster are going down.
Cory Trice's talent alone should have made him a roster lock for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2025, but his latest hamstring injury could be the final straw, and the talented draft pick may find himself on the outside looking in.