While Pittsburgh Steelers rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. has largely looked good for the Steelers this preseason, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin isn’t totally sold that his issues with grabiness are completely behind him. While he only had three penalties last season, he had six his junior year at Penn State. Austin said they’re working with Porter, but that he needs to prove that those issues are completely behind him.
“Always worried about that. So, you know, you just figure. And you do the research on the player, and you find out if he’s a guy that’s willing to learn and willing to work at it. And if he is, then you can take a chance on it because a lot of times you can correct that. A lot of that stuff is correctable,” Austin said via transcript provided by the team yesterday.
While he said that it’s currently going well, Porter needs to further show that those issues are behind him.
“I’ll never say it’s fixed. It’s just going well. When we get into regular-season games, real games, and once he shows us as an NFL player that it’s not apart of his game, then I’ll say okay, you know what, that’s not part of this game. Until then, the jury’s out.”
Porter was flagged for one penalty, a defensive pass interference call, during Pittsburgh’s preseason, in a win over the Atlanta Falcons. But Austin also praised Porter’s improvement in technique, and if he can use his length and physicality for good, like he did on the play where he nabbed an interception against the Bills. Those sorts of plays are ones that can help set Porter apart from other, smaller corners and make him such an asset to the Steelers.
His work ethic is something that shouldn’t be questioned either, with Alex Kozora continually reporting that Porter was routinely the first player on the field during training camp practices at Saint Vincent College, and that work ethic is paramount in helping him improve his technique and reduce his grabbiness. It’s an issue that, as Austin said, is very correctable, and the more work Porter gets against talented wide receivers like George Pickens and Diontae Johnson in practice, the quicker he can improve and correct it.
And it’s not as if it wasn’t something he already worked on and improved. The fact his interceptions dropped from six to three during his college career is already a sign of improvement, and that should only continue as he gets better acclimated with what it takes to be an NFL cornerback. In the long term, I don’t think it’s going to be a big concern with Porter.
