Steelers A to Z: CB Cory Trice has had to overcome repeated injuries

Editor’s note: From now until reporting day to training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive is running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and assessing his outlook for the 2025 season. The breakdown will run in alphabetical order with at least two players each day between June 12 and July 23. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.

CB CORY TRICE

Experience/age: Third season, 25

Contract status: $1.05 million cap hit in 2025, signed through 2026

The past: At 6-foot-3, 206 pounds, Trice is one of the “avatar” cornerbacks the Steelers have collected in recent years. Trice would have been a 3 ½-year starter at Purdue, but he lost what would have been his redshirt junior 2021 season because of a torn ACL suffered in Week 3. A torn ACL — this time, to his right knee — would also end his 2023 rookie season before it started. A seventh-round pick, Trice was drawing attention during summer workouts and early in training camp before his injury on the first day in pads.

Trice returned last season and was part of the defense (in a subpackage role) and on special teams when the regular season began. He even filled in for an injured Donte Jackson late during a Week 2 win in Denver, making the game-sealing interception in the end zone. But the injury bug struck again after the following game, and Trice missed the next 11 games because of a hamstring ailment. He returned to play in the final three regular-season games. In part because of injuries to other players, he appeared in more than 80% of the Steelers’ defensive snaps in that time and made a start in the regular-season finale. But after star Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase had a big game with Trice often in coverage against him, Trice was a healthy scratch for the Steelers’ playoff loss at the Baltimore Ravens.

FIRST CAREER NFL INTERCEPTION pic.twitter.com/shFYljYZ0h

— Cory Trice Island ????️ (@SteelersTrice27) September 15, 2024

2025 outlook: The late-summer acquisition of Jalen Ramsey certainly clouds Trice’s role and path to the field in 2025. The Steelers added Ramsey and fellow veteran and former All Pro Darius Slay to a group that already included “No. 1 CB” Joey Porter Jr. The Steelers also signed former New York Jets starting cornerback Bradin Echols and still have slot specialist Beanie Bishop and special-teams standout James Pierre. In short, Trice went from entering the offseason as a possible projected starter to suddenly perhaps being in a fight for his job.

The Steelers have always been intrigued by Trice’s size and playmaking ability. When he’s been healthy, he’s shown he’s NFL-caliber. But first and foremost, Trice must avoid injury. If he can do that, he can show what he can do to compel coaches to carve out a niche for him in an evolving, deep secondary.