The Steelers are well into their offseason after failing to reach the playoffs in 2022, coming up just a game short of sneaking in as the seventh seed. They needed help in week 18 and only got some of it, so instead they sat home and watched the playoffs with the rest of us.
On tap is figuring out how to be on the field in January and February instead of being a spectator. They started out 2-6, digging a hole that proved too deep to dig out of even if they managed to go 7-2 in the second half of the year.
Starting from the end of the regular season and leading all the way up to the beginning of the 2023 season, there are plenty of questions that need answered, starting with who will be the offensive coordinator. Which free agents will be kept? Who might be let go due to their salary? How might they tackle free agency with this new front office? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout this offseason, as we have for many years.
Question: Who will play more defensive snaps this season, Levi Wallace or Joey Porter Jr.?
I think it’s quite clear that the Steelers viewed Joey Porter Jr., the cornerback out of Penn State, as a first-round talent. While they selected him with the 32nd overall pick, multiple members of the organization have said that they were surprised that he was still available and that they would have drafted him much higher.
As we saw last year, however, high pedigree and high opinions don’t get you on the field right away. Kenny Pickett sat on the bench to start the first four games of last season, though quarterback and cornerback are very different positions.
Chances are Porter and Levi Wallace will spend some time on the field together. But who will be on the field more? Both of them are outside cornerbacks who don’t really play in the slot. Patrick Peterson is also an outside cornerback, though it seems like the Steelers’ plan might be to play him in the slot in the nickel this year.
Wallace, a former college free agent, has carved out a nice career for himself and is coming off arguably the best season of his career, his first in Pittsburgh. That featured a career-high four interceptions, something Porter wasn’t exactly known for in college.
But if the Steelers really think that highly of Porter, they probably expect him to earn playing time fairly early. He’s also closer to the physical ideal of what they are looking for in a cornerback, so one might be inclined to assume that he will see the bulk of the playing time as soon as the coaches believe he can handle it.
But what if Peterson and Wallace are playing at a high level and delivering winning football? How do you work out the playing time under those circumstances?
