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Promising Steelers Cornerback Makes First Career Start
PITTSBURGH — Second-year cornerback Cory Trice made his first career for the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday.
Starting cornerback Donte Jackson was ruled out by the team as he continues to deal with a pinched nerve in his back. Jackson has missed all of part of three of the last four Steelers games with the injury he first suffered in Week 14 against the Cleveland Browns.
The first two times this season the Steelers needed a fill-in cornerback, veteran James Pierre stepped into the role, replacing Jackson in Week 16 and Joey Porter Jr. when he missed the team’s Week 17 game against the Kansas City Chiefs with a knee sprain.
Against the Chiefs, Pierre started, but after allowing a first-quarter touchdown, he was replaced by Trice, who out-snapped him in the game, 47 to 18 on defense.
The team’s seventh-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Purdue, Trice came to Pittsburgh with high hopes despite his low draft status. He had been expected to be a much earlier pick before injury concerns dropped his draft stock.
Unfortunately for the Steelers, those injury concerns have come to fruition so far. He missed his entire rookie season with an ACL injury. This season, Trice played in the first three games before he suffered a hamstring injury while covering a punt in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Trice missed the next nine games with the injury, and then was a healthy scratch for two more weeks after he returned from the injured reserve list. With Jackson’s back acting up, Trice was active for the first time since his hamstring injury against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 16. When porter was injured in that game, Trice played a career-high 49 snaps.
In five total games this season, Trice has made eight tackles, defended two passes and has one interception, which came in the end zone against the Denver Broncos in Week 2.
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