Steelers HC Mike Tomlin on rookie class: ‘We didn’t scholarship anyone’

There was a time when being a rookie on the Pittsburgh Steelers meant you had it pretty easy. It wasn’t often that the Steelers would call upon their first-year players to produce.

Those days are long gone. If you are on the roster, you had better be ready. And the 2023 NFL draft class proved to be ready. Pittsburgh made its initial round of cuts to get down to 53 on the roster and kept every member of the draft class. This includes cornerback Cory Trice Jr. who suffered a season-ending injury in training camp.

Tomlin addressed the media after final cuts and praised the “football maturity” in this class and expected bigger contributions from them as the weeks go on.

Mike Tomlin as the #Steelers entire rookie class makes the roster *Trice on IR ⁦@937theFan⁩ pic.twitter.com/NtT945fBVT

— Jeff Hathhorn (@jhathhorn) August 30, 2023

No members of the Steelers class of undrafted free agents made the final team but this isn’t unusual. Pittsburgh could see three rookies in starting roles in the coming weeks.