No player knows where he is going to go on draft day. Except for maybe Bryce Young. I like his odds that he’s going #1 overall to the Carolina Panthers. But from there? Who the heck knows. Still, Penn State CB Joey Porter Jr. believes he knows his range. In an interview with Pro Football Talk, Porter told Mike Florio he thinks he’ll go anywhere from #7 to #17.
“It’s a wide range,” he told Florio in an interview posted Wednesday night. “All my people and what I’ve been hearing is I could seven to seventeen. Or it might go seven to twenty. I’m ready for the moment. Any outcome that happens, I’m just blessed to be in that situation. I’m just ready to play.”
Of course, the 17th pick is held by the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that’s been popularly connected to Porter throughout the process for obvious reasons. Porter is the son of Joey Porter Sr., a great Steelers outside linebacker and later a linebackers coach. Porter Jr. came in for a pre-draft visit while the Steelers were well-reprented at his Pro Day, sending Assistant GM Andy Weidl and DBs Coach Grady Brown.
Pittsburgh’s eyed almost all of the top corners in this year’s draft class, an unusually strong group. They brought in multiple for visits during the month of April, a list including Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez, Miami (FL)’s Tyrique Stevenson, Kansas State’s Julius Brents, and South Carolina’s Darius Rush.
Porter did pause himself and mention “seven to twenty” after initially saying “seven to seventeen.” The Seattle Seahawks hold the 20th overall pick and Porter is a long, physical corner Pete Carroll’s defense have always gravitated toward. The Seahawks drafted Tariq Woolen in the fifth round last year, and he quickly became one of the top young cornerbacks in football. And if you’re wondering, the 7th-overall pick is held by the Las Vegas Raiders, who are also in the market for a cornerback.
Of course, players have heard ranges they’re expected to be picked in before. Heck, there’s many stories of teams telling prospects they’re going to be the pick only for the club to go in a different direction. All of that is to say no one really knows. But Porter seems confident he’s going to be picked sooner than later. And if he falls a bit, he might end up in the Steelers’ lap.
