Is Joey Porter Jr. going to win Defensive Rookie of the Year? Probably not. But the Pittsburgh Steelers surely aren’t regretting holding the 32nd pick of this year’s draft to stay and select Porter. Already the team’s top corner and potential emerging stud, Ben Roethlisberger shouted out the job Porter’s done this season during the latest episode of his Footbahlin podcast.
“You love that he’s a physical football player. You love [how] he gets his hands on people. And so I love that they just let him play,” Roethlisberger said. “And I love that, that he’s playing as well as any rookie, not just corner, but rookie in this league.”
That’s a lot of love from Roethlisberger. Porter’s big-time role was put in the slow cooker, not the microwave, and it took until nearly midseason for him to crack the starting lineup. But he hasn’t looked back since that happened. His breakout game came in Week Nine against the Tennessee Titans, shadowing veteran WR DeAndre Hopkins and shutting him down in the second half of Pittsburgh’s win. Porter’s size, length, and physicality match up well against big-bodied receivers though penalties have plagued him. Still, there’s been plenty more good than bad. His game is improving, us noting his tackling is much better than where it was the first half of the season.
To clean up that last part, to be flagged less often, Roethlisberger believes a change in attire will do him good. Ditch the yellow gloves for something a darker shade.
“I feel like what he should do is he should put the same-colored gloves on as the opposing jersey,” Roethlisberger said. “He wore those bright yellow gloves and it just sticks out like a sore thumb.”
Flagged 12 times this season with eight accepted (the others were either declined or offset), all of his accepted penalties have come since Week Nine. That includes one in Saturday’s win over the Bengals, called for holding on a third down that moved the sticks for Cincinnati.
Porter will get another tough task this weekend, presumably matching up against Seattle Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, an NBA small forward in cleats.
“D.K. is a just a physical specimen, which is what I think Joey thrives at. He thrives in physicality,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s what he does best. Those two are gonna be, if he does follow him around, those two are gonna be just tangling with each other.”
In body type and straight-line ability, Metcalf is as freaky as any receiver to come out in the past dozen draft classes. Six-foot-three and nearly 230 pounds with a 4.33 40 on his resume, he’s averaging nearly 17 yards per catch and a touchdown every 7.5 grabs. It’ll be a best-on-best type of battle.
Though unlikely to occur, Roethlisberger argued Porter should be considered to take home offseason hardware.
“He’s playing really well. Should get some definite consideration for Rookie of the Year,” Roethlisberger said.
Porter may get some votes but the Houston Texans’ Will Anderson (eight TFL, five sacks), CB Devon Witherspoon (three sacks, one pick-six, and several bone-crunching hits), and DT Jalen Carter (five sacks, two forced fumbles) are likely ahead with Carter the odds-on favorite. Porter’s play has been rock-solid, but a lack of interceptions and highlight-reel plays will hurt him in the eyes of box score-watching voters.
Award or not, the Steelers found their guy. Porter is already the team’s top corner and should be even better in his second season, cleaning up his technique and reducing his number of flags. Now, the front office’s mission is to find a long-term option to play opposite of him.
