The Steelers have two veteran cornerbacks in Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey, each acquired this offseason. However, Omar Khan never takes his eyes away from the future, and the future of that position lies with Joey Porter Jr. Porter’s teammate, T.J. Watt, is taking notice of the progression he’s making through his first couple of years in the NFL.
“That was the cool thing about pads the other day, Joey Porter, I mean talk about a guy that’s just taking leaps and bounds each and every single year that he’s been in the league,” Watt said Friday night to Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller with Sirius XM NFL Radio. “And to be able to see him come up and make massive hits as a corner. If your corners are tackling in the AFC North, you’re playing dangerous football. And that’s what we need to be doing to be able to play deep into January and February.”
Porter is certainly a physical cornerback. He’s never going to back down from a receiver, but sometimes that physicality can get him into trouble. Those issues culminated last year when Porter was flagged six times in a win against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Since Porter has been in the league, the Steelers have given him some veteran guidance. This offseason, they may have found their best veteran help yet. In Slay and Ramsey, Porter really couldn’t ask for better players to model his game after. Especially Ramsey, who plays with the same level of physicality. Ramsey even has experience as a blitzer, another thing he can show Porter. In Slay, Porter has an example of an adaptable corner, one capable of playing multiple roles.
If he can keep the penalties in check, the sky really could be the limit for Porter. He’s a sure tackler, with a missed tackle rate of just 8.9 percent across his career. For a cornerback, that’s not bad. He’s been great against the pass as well. Porter has allowed a career completion rate of 56.4 percent and a passer rating of just 77.4 when targeted.
Those are great numbers, and Porter is only getting more help this year. Not just in the secondary, but among the front seven as well. The Steelers should be much stouter there than they were last season, which only makes things easier on the secondary.
Porter has plenty of expectations for the rest of his career. Now, he has the teammates around to help him reach those goals. According to Watt, he’s on his way to doing that.
