While fellow rookie cornerback Cory Trice Jr. is garnering a lot of the attention following a big practice during OTAs on Thursday, it’s Joey Porter Jr., the Pittsburgh Steelers’ other draft selection at the position, you’re going to be seeing a lot of when the time comes. Not that anybody would be surprised, but that’s the assessment from Patrick Peterson.
“I think he’s doing a really, really good job of doing all the right things, being where he’s supposed to be”, he told reporters yesterday of Porter, via video by Amanda Godsey. “He’s working with the ones, twos, and threes, so he’s getting all the looks that he needs to make sure that he’s more than prepared when his number calls. You can expect to see him on the field early and quite often”.
Early and quite often. How early? How often? Will he be an opening-day starter? Will he come off the field? While those are the ultimate expectations for the Penn State product, time will tell if he is on the field for the first snap of the season.
At the moment, Peterson and Levi Wallace would presumably be the starters on the outside. It’s less clear who would work in the nickel defense, but Peterson has acknowledged that he is getting work in the slot. That means an outside-only cornerback like Porter could come in as the nickel with Peterson kicking inside.
Right now, the only slot cornerback of particular note that they have is Chandon Sullivan, a veteran who spent some time playing with Peterson with the Minnesota Vikings. They also have others such as Duke Dawson and Madre Harper, neither of whom has ever suited up for the Steelers before, after parting ways with Arthur Maulet.
As for Porter, he has also talked about how having a veteran like Peterson at his disposal has only helped to accelerate his transition from the college level to the NFL. Not that he hasn’t been given plenty of insight from his father, Joey Porter Sr., who even knows a little something about playing for the Steelers and about head coach Mike Tomlin.
We haven’t gotten many reports from OTAs about how Porter has performed or of any particularly notable plays he might have made, but such things at this time of year are always going to be spotty. For one thing, reporters can’t talk about it unless somebody goes on record acknowledging it first.
I’m sure both Porter and Trice will have plenty of eyes on them once the calendar turns to late July and we get underway at Latrobe. We could be watching our future at the cornerback position. That’s the obvious aspiration for Porter, and perhaps Trice can make that jump as well. Not that Peterson will be stepping aside for either one of them. Though perhaps stepping inside might be enough.
