Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: CB Joey Porter Jr.
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The rookie cornerback has finally begun to see snaps in the Steelers’ base defense, rotating in for both Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace in the second half of Sunday’s game. On about a dozen-and-a-half snaps in coverage, he was targeted once, registering an interception.
Is it finally time that we get to experience a longer look at the Steelers’ highest-drafted defensive player since Devin Bush in 2019? CB Joey Porter Jr., drafted with the 32nd-overall pick in April, has been limited almost entirely to work as a dime defender, but that could be changing over the bye week.
Why? Well, primarily because he has stepped up and made plays when defenses have targeted him. While he is only officially credited with two passes defensed (including an interception), he has been stout in coverage since he first stepped onto the field.
Starting cornerbacks Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace, in spite of their three interceptions between them, have not played at a high level at all. It really shouldn’t be too difficult of a decision to start playing Porter, either mixed in with them or in place of them altogether.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin seemed eager to harp on the notion last week that he felt Porter was not ready to take on a larger role, yet even that seemed at odds with his usage in base packages in the second half against the Ravens.
There is some legitimate concern, granted, about his tackling ability. He had that issue in training camp and in the preseason, and it has shown up in his failures to make plays on a couple of screen passes since the regular season has begun.
But it’s not like Peterson and Wallace haven’t been struggling in the same area. Frankly, there is no excuse for the Steelers not playing Porter at least the equivalent of nickel snaps when they come out of their bye week. That’s both due to his own level of play and the quality of competition ahead of him. The time is now to see what he can do on a larger scale.
