Say what you want about Joey Porter Jr.: sure he can get reckless at times and commit dumb penalties. And yes, maybe he’s not the most agile guy in the world out on the perimeter. But one thing no one can ever say about him is that he backs down from a challenge.
Porter has routinely asked head coach Mike Tomlin to match up against the other team’s top receiver, which Tomlin has occasionally given him the chance to do. Tomlin had this to say about the young corner on The Mike Tomlin Show today.
“He wants the smoke, as all the guys say.” Tomlin noted. “He wants the difficult task, he wants the challenges, of seeing some of the best in the game. He wants to pit his skills versus theirs, obviously within the schematics of what it is that we do. But, I just like his general outlook and demeanor. The level of confidence that he has in himself is legitimate. It’s displayed not only with how he plays on Sundays but with how he’s approaching his business leading up to those Sundays.”
Porter got the Ja’Marr Chase matchup last week for long stretches of the game, and had a solid performance. Although Chase was hindered by not having Joe Burrow available to throw him the ball, he racked up just four catches and was unable to find the end zone.
The corner position was a big question mark for the Steelers going into 2023, and Porter has been the only guy in that unit to answer the bell. Not only has he guarded Chase, but also looked good against guys like Amari Cooper and Odell Beckham Jr.
What’s maybe even more telling and impressive is the fact that Tomlin is giving him the chance to be a number-one shutdown guy as a rookie. Tomlin tends to ease rookies along at least a little bit, and he tried to do that with Porter early in the season. But as Porter has progressed, it’s just been impossible to keep him off the field, and with Levi Wallace and Patrick Peterson having underwhelming years, it’s tough to not give Porter the primetime matchups.
Looking ahead, Porter doesn’t have a ton of shots left against the NFLs elite receivers. He’s got Michael Pittman in Week 15, Chase again in Week 16, and a potentially interesting matchup with D.K. Metcalf in Week 17. Metcalf could be the perfect guy for Porter to use his physicality against, and represents an archetype of receiver he hasn’t really seen yet.
