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90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Kenny Pickett, James Pierre, Joey Porter Jr.

By Dave Bryan

Posted on July 17, 2023 at 8:15 am

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June and next up is their annual training camp, which gets underway in late July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of training camp, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time for you as part of a 30-post series. This Steelers roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow.

The next three players we will preview ahead of Steelers 2023 training camp are Kenny Pickett, James Pierre, and Joey Porter Jr.

QB Kenny Pickett: As a rookie in 2022, Pickett, the team’s first-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, started a total of 12 games. He effectively became the team’s starter midway through the Week Four game. He went on to complete 245 of his 389 pass attempts for 2,404 yards with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions. Additionally, he rushed for 237 yards and three touchdowns on 55 total attempts.

Pickett was sacked 27 times in total as a rookie with 12 of those coming in two games. He finished his rookie season with an adjusted net yards per passing attempt stat of 4.70. He was, however, credited with three fourth-quarter comebacks during his rookie season and four game-winning drives. He missed one game in 2022 due to a concussion and was knocked out of two other games during the season due to head injuries.

Outlook: With Pickett now in the lead role to start the year, a big second-season jump should be expected for him in 2023, especially with all the starts he managed to make during his rookie season. Pickett cut down on his interceptions after the bye week last season and he even engineered a couple of fourth-quarter comebacks to boot. Pickett should have a little more say in the offensive game-planning department in 2023 and hopefully that pays dividends as well. The Steelers were lacking explosive plays in 2022 in addition to yards after the catch. Those are two primary areas that he can hopefully help make the offense better in this coming season.

The Steelers figure to be a bully-ball offense in 2023 with their offensive line now rebuilt this offseason. Even so, Pickett will need to throw quite frequently and play better than he did last season when it comes to key situational areas such as third downs and inside the red zone. His adjusted net yards per passing attempt stat needs to be at least 6.2 in 2023 and hopefully closer to 7.0. If that’s the end result and the Steelers offense isn’t turning the football over frequently, the team should win a fair share of games in 2023.

CB James Pierre: The Steelers will have Pierre back in training camp again this summer after signing him to a one-year, $1.3 million contract earlier in the offseason. That deal came on the heels of the Steelers choosing not to restricted tender Pierre at a higher dollar amount prior to the start of the 2023 NFL league year in the middle of March.

Last season with the Steelers, Pierre played in all 17 regular-season games on his way to recording 29 total tackles, four passes defensed, one interception, and one fumble recovery. He played 260 total defensive snaps in 2022 and 196 more on special teams. Of his total tackles last season, nine of them came on special teams as did his fumble recovery. He started two games in 2022 with both coming before the team’s bye week.

Outlook: Pierre should enter training camp with a better-than-average shot at making the 53-man roster once again, and that’s mainly due to his experience and special teams abilities. He’s an outside cornerback option as depth for the team. The Steelers did select two cornerbacks in the 2023 NFL Draft in addition to signing a few veteran free-agent cornerbacks in Patrick Peterson and Chandon Sullivan. Additionally, there are a few other younger cornerbacks on the offseason roster who will be gunning for Pierre’s job.

Should Pierre once again show his worth on special teams once training camp and the preseason get underway, he’ll be hard to knock outside the roster bubble. That said, stranger things have happened before, so Pierre must stay healthy and be looking over his shoulder these next seven weeks.

CB Joey Porter Jr.: The Steelers were able to snag Porter in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft and on the surface, it appears as though they got quite the gift. After all, Porter, a Penn State product, was widely mocked to the Steelers at No. 17 overall for a good portion of the pre-draft process.

In his four seasons at Penn State, Porter played in 34 games on his way to registering 113 total tackles, two for loss, one sack, one interception, 20 passes defensed and a fumble recovery. Porter enters the NFL as a very long and nicely put together cornerback as he measured in at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine at 6-2 1/2, 198 pounds with 34-inch arms.

Outlook: When comes to Porter’s 2023 rookie season, the hope is that he’ll become an outside starter on one side at some point. How quickly that will ultimately happen is anyone’s guess ahead of training camp getting underway. Porter has a great mentor on the roster in veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson, who seemed to take the rookie under his wing during the offseason practices. Porter should know all about the culture in Pittsburgh with his father being a star outside linebacker for the team in the 2000s.

Learning the Steelers’ defense quickly is paramount for Porter as that will aid in his escalation to becoming a starter. When Porter does finally become a starter, his length should be quite an asset to him. Another thing that Porter will need to fix is his propensity to grab and hold. He was penalized quite a bit in college so that obviously can’t happen at the NFL level. He should be a fun player to watch go through the process in 2023.

Related Items:2023 Training Camp, James Pierre, Joey Porter Jr., Kenny Pickett

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