Second-year Pittsburgh Steelers’ cornerback Joey Porter Jr. already has No. 1 cornerback and true shutdown defender on his resume.
Through two games of his second season in the NFL, Porter is trying to add more to his resume, this time dabbling in some special teams duties.
In the first two games of the season, Porter has played 13 snaps on special teams, including nine on punt returns. He has been serving as the starting corner on punt returns to try and negate gunners and give punt returner Calvin Austin III time and space to operate and potentially create splash plays for the Steelers.
While Porter handled that role early on in his collegiate career at Penn State, it’s a relatively new role in the NFL. Porter played just nine snaps in that role last season on punt return and has already matched that number of snaps this season.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday about his new role under special teams coordinator Danny Smith, Porter downplayed the role on punt returns, stating he’s just trying to help the Steelers as much as possible, period.
“It’s all just want-to at the end of the day,” Porter said of handling the special teams role for the Steelers on top of his defensive duties, according to video via Steelers.com. “Just wanting to make that splash pay for teammates, just trying to give Calvin the ball in open space, see what he could do when he had the opportunity.
“So I just try to help as much as possible.”
As a rookie, Porter played 113 snaps on special teams. Of those 113 snaps, 76 came on kick coverage, while 42 came on field goals and extra point blocks. Overall, that’s not a huge task for a defensive player, especially a rookie.
But going from playing every snap defensively to then having to handle the punt return duties at corner as well? That’s extra work that Porter doesn’t exactly need to be doing.
But to win and to try and help create a splash play for the offense, he’s jumping at the opportunity to do whatever is asked of him.
One would think he’d want to limit his exposure on the field to just true cornerback duties to limit wear and tear and the risk of potential injury in an unnecessary situation, but at his core, Porter is a football player through and through, willing to do whatever the team needs.
That’s an awesome attitude to have, especially as he continues to ascend at his position, quickly developing into one of the best young cornerbacks in the game.
