The opinions found in Asked and Answered do not reflect the views of the Steelers organization.
Let's get to it:
NORM BRENNAN FROM CHACHAGÜÍ, NARIÑO, COLOMBIA: Is Cory Trice healthy? If so, do you think we will see him soon? Might be an upgrade.
ANSWER: On Oct. 29, the Steelers returned Cory Trice Jr. to practice, which started the 21-day clock during which the team can evaluate him and determine whether to add him to the 53-man roster or he will be lost for the rest of the 2025 season. Trice came to the Steelers as a No. 7 pick (241st overall) in the 2023 NFL Draft from Purdue. His rookie season effectively ended during training camp when he was placed on the injured reserve list on Aug. 2. During 2024, Trice survived camp and the preseason, and he played 28 defensive snaps over the first 3 regular season games, the highlight of which was a 2 tackle, 1 interception performance in a win in Denver on Sept. 15. But Trice only played 1 defensive snap the following week vs. the Chargers before again being injured and going on IR. Trice returned for the final 3 games of the 2024 season, during which he recorded 21 tackles and 1 pass defensed. Then in 2025, Trice again was injured during training camp and was placed on IR on Aug. 26. Clearly, there must be things the Steelers like in this 6-foot-3, 206 pound cornerback, but his bad luck with injuries has just been off the charts. In 3 seasons, Trice has appeared in 6 games with 1 start (all in 2024), and he has played just 193 defensive snaps (also all in 2024). Trice deserves credit for continuing to do the rehab and get himself back into a place where he is medically cleared to return to the field, but most of the injuries he has sustained, even back to his college career at Purdue, have been serious knee injuries that required surgery. I just don't know what realistic expectations would be for a player like that.
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BILL GLENN FROM LAWRENCEVILLE, GA: At NFL International Games, how is the home team determined?
ANSWER: In every International Game, the two participating teams had been scheduled to face each other by the NFL in that particular season. And every scheduled NFL regular season game is assigned a home team and a visiting team. The home team when the NFL released that season's schedule is the home team if that matchup is chosen to be an International Game.
RYAN CHEPKEVICH FROM FRANKFORT, IL: When is Brett Keisel eligible for the Hall of Honor? He is my favorite Steelers player of all time.
ANSWER: Players are eligible for election to the Steelers Hall of Honor three years after they retired. Keisel retired after the 2014 season.
JASON GODFREY FROM ENOREE, SC: I recently grabbed a Chris "Money" Boswell autographed picture for my collection. Do you have any memorabilia/artifacts that mean something to you?
ANSWER: Dan Rooney had me do some work to help with the project that turned into his book, "Dan Rooney: My 75 Years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL," and when the book was published, he presented me with a copy that included a personal inscription. It's a very personal memento.
BRIAN ALEXANDER FROM ROCHESTER, NY: I've heard, hundreds of times over the years, that when it comes to QBs with a ton of experience, such as Ben Roethlisberger in his 18 years, or now Aaron Rodgers in his 21st year, that they've seen it all when it comes to diagnosing what a defense is doing/going to do when looking at the alignment pre-snap. Has a defensive coach, or head coach of the Steelers, ever asked the QB to watch film of OUR defenses, and say what they're seeing pre-snap in order to maybe help out the defense with setup or disguise?
ANSWER: I cannot say for certain whether what you describe about having a team's veteran quarterback watch video of his team's defense and then critique its setup and/or disguise has ever happened. But I wonder how meaningful that exercise could be, because in the case of an 18-year one-helmet guy like Ben Roethlisberger, he had to have seen it and practiced against it – with many of the same players executing it – thousands of times. So I would expect it would be rather impossible to fool him with a disguise. And again, it's my opinion that setup and disguise aren't the primary issues affecting the performance of the Steelers defense in this snippet of the season. On every play on both sides of the ball in the NFL, the execution is what determines the outcome of that play and then by extension determines the outcome of the game. The Steelers have not been executing well enough consistently enough.
MARK EDWARDS FROM BETHPAGE, NY: We are loaded with DBs who can deliver a hit, but don't have the speed/quickness to cover plus WRs. Are there any legitimate cover DBs available as we approach the trade deadline?
ANSWER: There is not a team in the NFL that has enough defensive backs who can line up and cover top-quality WRs and/or TEs, and I would guess there has never ever been an NFL team with EXTRA defensive backs who can line up and cover top-quality WRs and/or TEs.
ANGELO MORELLA FROM POLAND, OH: What are the salary cap hits in 2025 if the Steelers decided to trade these players: T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Patrick Queen?
ANSWER: There is no chance any of those players is going to be traded by the deadline of 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4, and so I have decided I will "answer" this one by telling you what Spotrac.com lists as the respective dead cap charges for 2026. For T.J. Watt, it's $94 million; for Alex Highsmith it's $11.2 million; for Patrick Queen, it's $3.86 million.
DENNY CLEARY FROM LOUISVILLE, KY: Have you ever seen or heard an end of season article or comment by an "NFL expert analyst" listing all the things he or she predicted inaccurately during the season?
ANSWER: Full disclosure, I wouldn't have any more interest in reading/hearing/watching that than I had for the original "expert analysis."
RICHARD LINGLE FROM SHAMOKIN DAM, PA: It seems to me that we're really bad at tackling, which has not always been true. Why the problem this year?
ANSWER: Yes, tackling has been inconsistent so far this season, and what's unfortunate is that there are rules that prohibit practicing and drilling the fundamental execution of tackling during virtually every phase of the NFL calendar. There is no hitting or even the wearing of pads during the offseason program. During the regular season, the number of padded practices is regulated, and even in those padded practices there is absolutely no tackling to the ground allowed. During training camp two-a-days are off limits, and there are mandatory days off required after a certain number of consecutive days of padded practices. Many media members who regularly make the rounds of NFL training camps have commented on how the Steelers are the only team to have a period of tackling to the ground in every padded practice during camp. I'm not trying to excuse the Steelers tackling issues, but all they're really allowed to practice – crowding, thumping, ball-seeking – is what we see during games and is largely ineffective in getting the guy on the ground. Rules prevent teams from the methods traditionally used to make players better at the fundamentals of the sport. If that's in the interest of player safety, that's fine and understandable, but then you're going to see a lot of missed/broken tackles.
