The Pittsburgh Steelers keep telling themselves, it seems, that they need to play the long game with rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. But maybe they don’t. While he has his flaws and continues to grow as a young player, he has more than held his own with whatever playing time he has gotten, particularly in coverage.
And joining the deafening chorus on the matter is NFL analyst and former Steeler Chris Hoke. “I think he should be in the starting lineup”, he argued during the KDKA post-game show yesterday following the team’s 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens.
“I don’t know if they will because they’re pretty adamant about his slow progression in term of playing time”, he cautioned. “But when he gets out there he produces and does things that will help that defense be better on third down in waning moments that Coach [Mike] Tomlin talks about so I think you’ve got to get him in the lineup”.
While the lower total number of defensive plays was a significant factor, the rookie second-round pick’s snap count for yesterday’s game remained in line with what he had been getting, withing the 20-30-snap range. But he hardly left the field in the second half.
And he did manage his first career interception on the afternoon, picking of QB Lamar Jackson as he was looking for WR Odell Beckham Jr. it was not a good throw—perhaps the worst throw of the day for Jackson—but Porter played it well and put himself in position to take advantage of the opportunity. The kind of plays you want to see him make if he’s going to be out there. Hint hint.
“You’ve got to think coming out of this bye week that Joey’s going to play a bigger role in this defense”, Hoke said. “He goes in there and just makes plays. You’ve got to get a role for him that’s more prominent and help this defense play much better”.
That’s what the Steelers drafted him to be, yet they have been reluctant to put too much on his plate. This is in spite of the fact that their two starting cornerbacks, Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace, have been struggling. While they’ve made some plays, their complete body of work has been sorely lacking and simply not above the line.
Putting a rookie in a bigger role, or even the starting lineup, will result in some growing pains, to be sure. But it has to happen at some point, and most fans agree that it might as well be now. Especially at this time, as having the bye week makes changes easier to install and implement.
Personally, I’m pretty confident in the odds of this happening. They already started rotating him in with Peterson and Wallace outside of sub-package play. He should be no worse than the fifth defensive back by the time they take the field again. If he’s not, then, well…I might have to choose my words carefully.
