To say that new Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. is “part of the family” is almost literally true. He is the son of former Steelers player and coach Joey Porter Sr., who was on hand at practice yesterday to get a firsthand look at his oldest wearing the same colors he wore, practicing on the same field.
But that is not why the team is treating him like family. It’s because he belongs, based on what they believe he can do on the field—and also because that’s just what the Steelers organization has believed in doing for the past 90 years. For Porter in particular, though, he’s felt the all-hands approach to bringing him up right.
“Everybody’s been coming up to me and giving me great advice of the game”, he told reporters yesterday. “All the corners have really been looking out. Levi [Wallace], [James Pierre], [Patrick Peterson], everybody’s really just been coming in and giving me the game, even the offensive guys telling me what I can work on, what I’m doing really well. At the end of the day, this is a team, and I feel like they’re really looking out for me”.
Certainly strikes a familial tone, though we can’t necessarily say that it fundamentally differs from how they like to treat any new player. After all, while Peterson has heaped praise on Porter numerous times over the past month and a half, he’s also done so with Cory Trice Jr., their other rookie cornerback.
But the Steelers drafted Porter with the 32nd-overall pick. That means they really believe he can be a very good player for them for a long period of time. The stakes are just that much higher because it reflects a higher level of assurance that this is going to be somebody who is going to be around for a while.
Sticking around for the long haul doesn’t automatically mean being a major contributor right away, however, it must be said. While it’s quite possible that Porter opens the regular season as at least the nickel defender, he may find that he will have to wait his turn.
Time will tell on that front based on how he performs over the course of the offseason and what they feel that he can handle. They do still have James Pierre, whom the coaching staff seems to believe in still, as a potential third outside cornerback, and there’s Chandon Sullivan to work in the slot next to Peterson and Wallace.
One thing we do know is that the Steelers are going to use their resources, from the personal to the professional, to give Porter the best chance to succeed. The locker room senses that and seems to be gravitating toward him, understanding that he has a legacy to live up to—and also that he has the ability to do so.
