One thing that’s certain is that rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. knows where he comes from and all of the benefits that come with it. He understands his family legacy in Pittsburgh. He understands his pedigree. And he understands that he’s coming into the NFL with about as good a head start as you can reasonably expect to get. He’s not taking it for granted.
Aside from the fact that his father is an accomplished NFL player in his own right, aside from the fact that he gets to play with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he’s also in an ideal situation. He’s got future Hall of Famer Patrick Peterson as his teammate, who’s cousins with former Steelers CB Bryant McFadden. And he’s got ol’ swag himself, Ike Taylor, in his ear.
“I feel like it’s working out pretty good”, he said of the counsel he has received from the veterans of the position and of the game, via video from Tuesday’s media session published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Those guys are trying to give me the game, and I just appreciate them really looking out because not everybody gets to get that experience and I’m getting that right now, so I’m blessed”.
Peterson, a former first-round pick, has 12 years under his belt with numerous Pro Bowls. He may be the most accomplished defensive back currently active in the game today. And he’s been an eager mentor, convinced that Porter will one day be even better than he was at his best. But he’s not overbearing with his teaching.
“He lets me have my own space, but we talk before practice on what we’re trying to work on, what we’re doing”, Porter said, “so he’ll tell me a little something like, ‘Remember what we talked about before practice’, just so I have that reminder going onto the field to look what I’m working for”.
As for Taylor, the Steelers’ lockdown corner of the great defenses of the 2000s and early ‘10s, he spent the early portions of his career with Joey Sr. as his teammate, so he watched the kid he helped scout this offseason grow up.
Oh yeah, that’s right, Taylor is also now a scout for the Steelers. He knows a little thing or two not just about how to play the position but how it’s supposed to look. And he’s been getting in little informal lessons from him and Peterson whenever possible.
It’s hard to say whether or not that’s paying off, per se—not because he isn’t doing well in training camp, but because he simply is a very talented player. Would he be as far along as he is now without all of these informed voices in his ears?
Fortunately, we won’t have to find out, because he has that. It’s one of the advantages of being a Steeler and being a part of that continually active lineage. They just had guys like TE Matt Spaeth, DE Aaron Smith, and WR Santonio Holmes in the building, guys who helped stack that trophy room. You can’t replicate that experience.
