The Pittsburgh Steelers are at it again. After stealing the show on the first two days of the 2023 NFL Draft, Omar Khan can pull out the sunglasses and cigar for this one. The Steelers selected Nick Herbig in the fourth round, (the brother of OG Nate Herbig), but nobody expected them to make a splash in Round 7.
That's where we were wrong. With the 241st pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Purdue cornerback, Cory Trice. This is a player I thought had a chance to be drafted in the middle of Day 2.
Trice was a fifth-year senior at Purdue, as injuries plagued most of his college career. As a result, he never only played more than 8 games in a season just once. In 2022, Trice finally stayed healthy and strung together 32 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 10 pass defenses in 13 games.
Steelers get one of the biggest steals of the NFL Draft
According to NFL Mock Draft Database, trice was the 106th overall player on the consensus big board this year. Considering the Steelers drafted him at pick 241, this is better value than even having Darnell Washington fall to the 93rd overall pick.
Trice also has outstanding size metrics to pair with solid athletic numbers. At 6'3'' and 206 pounds with 32 3/8'' arms, Trice ran a 4.47 and posted an 11' broad jump at the NFL Combine.
The early rumors are that Trice could be moved to safety. He certainly has the size and length to stick outside as a boundary cornerback. Trice no doubt slipped this far down into the draft because of his shaky injury history in which he played just one full season in five years of college ball.
Still, this is a gamble that Omar Khan and Andy Weidl simply could not pass on at this point in the 2023 NFL Draft. As far as seventh-round picks go, this is about as exciting as they come. The Pittsburgh Steelers impressive draft gets even stronger with the addition of DB Cory Trice.