The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: How long will the Steelers wait to expand Joey Porter Jr.’s role?
This upcoming game against the Baltimore Ravens should feature the largest presence by the Steelers’ rookie class thus far, though not because of their doing anything differently. They will be down two more starters in LT Dan Moore Jr. and TE Pat Freiermuth.
Correspondingly, that means starting roles for first-round pick Broderick Jones and third-round TE Darnell Washington. Second-round DL Keeanu Benton has also been playing an increased role for a while due to Cameron Heyward’s injury. But CB Joey Porter Jr. has had to wait his turn.
Effectively, the second-round pick’s role has not changed at all since the season opener. He is the dime defender and the top backup outside cornerback. The only times he has played so far are when the defense has been in dime or when there has been an injury. Some weeks, that meant more playing time than others.
Yet on a per-snap basis, Porter has been the Steelers’ best cornerback, particularly in terms of coverage. Levi Wallace has made some plays but has also been beaten far too often. Patrick Peterson, frankly, looks too old and slow to be doing what he’s doing.
All signs seem to point to Peterson moving into the slot and Porter playing a significant amount of snaps, at least in the nickel defense. That has not happened yet, and it’s unclear why it’s been taking as long as it has, given the issues the secondary has shown.
So the question is, how much longer are the coaches going to drag their feet waiting to make the move that they want to make in the first place? Do you know how much draft capital the Steelers could have picked up just by trading down a couple spots from the 32nd overall pick? They didn’t because of how much they liked Porter, and his play thus far has done nothing to indicate he wasn’t worth that investment. So why leave him on the bench for 75 percent of the game? I promise you, it will not get worse for his increased presence. It’s already bad enough.
