A lot of the attention during Pittsburgh Steelers OTAs has been on rookie cornerbacks Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr. The two lengthy cornerbacks have garnered a lot of praise so far, and Allen Robinson II said the addition of the two also makes the wide receiver room better.
“They’re competitors, they’re long-arm corners, whenever you have that in this league, that definitely gives you an advantage,” Robinson said during an interview with Missi Matthews on Steelers.com. Being able to go against those guys in the red zone, things like that. It’s hard to complete some of those tight windows throws against longer corners. I think for us as receivers, it’s definitely iron sharpening iron being able to get that experience in some of those tight window and red area type places.”
Obviously, being able to get experience against bigger corners is going to help Pittsburgh. Both Trice and Porter are the prototype of long and athletic cornerbacks that Pittsburgh could face, the sort of players who can win at the catch point and knock receivers off their route.
Getting that sort of experience in OTAs battling Pittsburgh’s receiver will not only help Trice and Porter. The experience from the receivers going against those guys should help Pittsburgh’s offense.
Last year, George Pickens was a jump ball machine, a guy who consistently won 50-50 balls and was able to be a downfield threat. There was nobody else in Pittsburgh’s offense who could really do that, but Robinson is another bigger receiver who could potentially do so while working in the slot.
Porter and Trice could break Pittsburgh’s streak of whiffing on corners in the draft. The early returns are promising, and while Trice was a seventh-round pick, he fell due to medical concerns, not questions about talent.
Porter was a first-round talent who ended up falling into Pittsburgh’s lap with the first pick in the second round. Obviously, you can’t take too much stock into reports this early without pads on, but it’s a little hard not to get excited about what Pittsburgh could have in their two young corners.
In a division like the AFC North, it’s essential to be able to stop the opposing passing attack. With quarterbacks like Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson and opposing receivers like Ja’Marr Chase, Odell Beckham Jr. and Amari Cooper, having talented corners is a necessity.
Pittsburgh invested in the position in the draft and free agency with the additions of Chandon Sullivan and Patrick Peterson, and the hope is that the secondary will be an upgrade over years past.
It’s going to be fun to watch Porter and Trice develop and equally fun to see how the offense evolves in Kenny Pickett’s second season. Hopefully, Robinson can be a veteran leader and someone the team can rely on in the slot. Maybe his work against Porter and Trice will help when things start to matter.
