Since joining the Pittsburgh Steelers, rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. has seen quite a bit of second-year wide receiver George Pickens, whether that was during one-on-ones in training camp that led to some significant highlights or from the best seat in the house on the sidelines while the offense is on the field.
That up-close-and-personal viewpoint of Pickens has Porter singing the wide receiver’s praises. Appearing on The Richard Sherman Podcast Tuesday, Porter — who is in the midst of an exceptionally strong rookie season for the Black and Gold — stated that Pickens is the type of athlete at the wide receiver position that doesn’t come around often.
“Just the plays he makes, how effortless it is. It’s like, it looks like he is barely trying out there, but he is really doing his thing,” Porter said to Sherman, according to video via The Volume’s YouTube page. “So, coming in Coach T[omlin], even my first meeting I had with the Steelers, like my first visit Coach T was like,’ Man, just the matchup between y’all two throughout the years is gonna be something crazy.’ And I’m like, I already known ’cause he’s a talkative player, I’m a talkative player. We gonna get after it.”
The two got after it right away in training camp in Latrobe.
Porter had his first “Welcome to the NFL” moment at Saint Vincent College in early August. That day, Pickens made an absurd catch over the Penn State product. Clips from the catch captured from fans in the stands made their way around social media and even ended up on ESPN’s SportsCenter and NFL Live.
It was a tough look for Porter, but what gets forgotten is how Porter bounced back that day. He made plays the rest of the practice session, rebounding from being on the wrong end of the highlight.
Porter isn’t the only corner Pickens has done that to in his career. It happens, especially with an athlete like Pickens in the air and the football in his vicinity.
Iron sharpens iron, as Tomlin likes to say. The two made each other better, and that’s carried over into the regular season.
“Throughout training camp, we kind of had that little battle where it’s like, man, I’m trying to get him. Like, we’re teammates, but like on the field, I don’t like him today. So it’s good. It’s gonna be a great little matchup throughout the years,” Porter added regarding Pickens.
That’s what the Steelers are hoping for, and so far that’s what they’ve gotten. Pickens has taken a step forward in Year Two as a more complete receiver who has added some routes to his game and has become more than just a contested-catch receiver.
Porter, to his credit, has become a lockdown cornerback over the last month or so since stepping into the lineup full time. He’s taking away opponents’ top targets, and in most cases, that is because of the work he did against Pickens. Chances are, he’s not going to see a better athlete or more physical presence at receiver than Pickens week to week. He figured out how to play a receiver like Pickens quickly in training camp, and some of the success he had in the hills of Unity Township has carried over to in-stadium situations in the NFL.
