Midway through the 2023 season, NFL.com’s Marc Ross had two Pittsburgh Steelers players among his picks for the 20-best rookies in the league. Neither DL Keeanu Benton nor CB Joey Porter Jr. were among the Top 10, but Benton checked in at 15 and Porter at 19.
Fast forward to the end of the regular season, and Ross has updated his rookie ratings. Benton is no longer on the list, but Porter’s performance solidified his spot as a top-20 NFL rookie, clocking in at 16.
“Porter is everything teams want in a young cornerback, and he continued to show confidence and shut down receivers in press coverage down the stretch,” Ross wrote. “Porter at times gets away with being too handsy and physical but allowing quarterbacks a 65.9 pass rating when targeting the rookie… is impressive to say the least. He should continue to improve with experience.”
The ascent for Porter versus the drop for Benton is not wholly a function of talent but more of their respective situations. Benton saw a bit more action through the midpoint of the season due to DL Cam Heyward’s injury, including the four-week stretch from Week Eight through Week 11 when he played over 50% of the snaps in each game. Since Week 12, Benton only broke the 40% mark twice (Week 14 in the loss to the Indianapolis Colts and the Week 17 win over the Seattle Seahawks). Still, Benton recorded one sack, 36 combined tackles, one tackle for a loss, two passes defended, and two forced fumbles as a rookie.
On the flip side, it took some time for Porter to see extended snaps to start the season. Through the first five weeks, he barely saw the field. The most action he saw was 40% of the team’s defensive snaps in the Week Five win over the Baltimore Ravens. However, that performance, which included a critical interception, seemed to be the catalyst. Week Six was the lowest percentage he saw the rest of the season, and that was still 78% of the Steelers’ defensive snaps. He was on the field for 100% of the snaps seven times during the last nine games of the season and did not see lower than 90% starting in Week Eight.
Porter finished his rookie season with one interception, 10 passes defended, 43 combined tackles, and even one tackle for a loss. Per pro-football-reference.com, Porter allowed a completion rate of 47.6% when targeted and only was charged with allowing one touchdown all season on 63 targets.
The Steelers certainly have a promising rookie class going forward. Porter is emerging as a top cornerback already and Benton proved to be a capable rotational defensive lineman and has shown flashes of ability that give hope of an expanded role in the future. Factor in Broderick Jones stepping in at right tackle and playing well plus LB Nick Herbig providing impact in incredibly limited snaps and the Steelers look to have done a very good job with the 2023 NFL Draft.
