No, Pittsburgh Steelers’ rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. hasn’t played a ton of football this season. The Steelers, right or wrong, took their time in getting him substantial snaps. That’s one-part smart cautiousness, one-part typical stubbornness. But even halfway through his first NFL season, Porter is being put in situations not many corners around the AFC North, especially for a rookie, find themselves in.
As outlined by analyst Brett Kollmann, Porter is more than holding his own despite being pressed and isolated nearly as much as anyone else in the division. He shared those numbers in a Twitter conversation Saturday afternoon.
As the data shows, courtesy of Pro Football Focus, Porter’s 47 press-coverage snaps are already second-most in the AFC North and the most of any Steeler. Of those snaps, he’s allowing just a 26.7 completion percentage, right up there with some of the top numbers in the division and nearly matching Baltimore’s Marlon Humphrey, who is slightly better at 25 percent. From a forced-incompletion standpoint, presumably moments where the cornerback made an active play on the ball, his one-third rate is also second-best in the North, only trailing Cleveland’s Greg Newsome.
Again, this is a rookie we’re talking about. In fairness and context, press-man is Porter’s fastball. That’s his calling card and why he was drafted. A tall and long corner, he’s at his best when he can initiate contact and disrupt the timing of a route. That’s what he showed in Thursday night’s win over the Tennessee Titans, erasing stud WR DeAndre Hopkins in the second half and holding him catch-less as the Titans scored just three points over the final two frames.
The biggest adjustment for Porter has been doing everything else. Playing off-man. Sitting in zone. Fitting and supporting the run and tackling the catch (he did struggle to bring Hopkins down in the one catch he gave up against him). And penalties are a bit of a worry, Porter knocked for several of them against the Titans. But that should be chalked up to an ultra-physical matchup against a guy like Hopkins, a crafty vet who would draw a dozen OPIs if the league had an interest in calling it.
Even when playing only limited snaps early in the season, they came in dime packages. Meaning he was used on “weighty downs” at the end of the half, the game, or on third and long. There are no “freebie” snaps in those moments. You gotta bring it every time. Couple that with the amount of isolated press-man and Porter has been asked to do a lot in such a short amount of time.
Despite Porter only having two starts, he’s growing up fast. Eight games into his NFL career, he’s already the team’s top corner, no longer having his snap count dictated by game circumstance as was the case the first month of the season. The only questions left are how good Porter can get. And what corner the Steelers can find to play opposite of him next season.
