Pittsburgh Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. had quite lofty expectations heading into the 2023 season. After being taken with the first pick of the second round, and given his father’s ties to the team, the hype built for the young cornerback.
Early in the season, Porter showed flashes but wasn’t quite getting the playing time to establish himself as a potential No. 1 cornerback. As the season went on, however, Mike Tomlin was almost forced to go against his general philosophy of letting rookies develop and gave Porter more and more chances against top receivers.
This sterling rookie season culminated last week, when Porter was given the Joe Greene Great Performance Award, given to the team’s top rookie. While this rookie class has been pretty impactful across the board this season and is shaping up to be one of the team’s best classes in recent memory, Porter Jr. was the clear standout and deserving of this award.
What’s interesting, at least in the Porter household, is that Joey Porter Sr. found out about his son getting the award before it was public knowledge. Before Porter Jr. even did. Porter Jr. talked about this in an interview posted by the team’s YouTube channel on Friday.
“He told me he already knew about it, which kind of bummed me out,” Porter said of telling his father he had won the Joe Greene Award. “I was kind of mad; I don’t even know. He told me somebody leaked it and told him. ‘How’d they tell you before me?’ So, that kind of ruined it. But he was still happy for me and congratulated me like he always does. So, it was a good little thing.”
Unfortunately for Porter Jr., he wasn’t able to brag about the award to his dad, who didn’t win it during his time as a Steeler. The 1999 award, for which Porter Sr. was eligible, actually went to WR Troy Edwards, who had over 700 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie. Porter Sr. didn’t record a start that year and had just two sacks.
Despite all that Porter Jr. has accomplished this season, this serves as a reminder that he’s still a rookie. And while he has been great this season, there have been some classic rookie mistakes, including his tendency to commit penalties.
There will be no room for rookie mistakes in Monday’s playoff matchup against the Buffalo Bills. Despite Bills WR Stefon Diggs having a bit of a cold stretch to end the season, he’s still one of the premier wide receivers in the NFL. Porter Jr. will draw that matchup. Something DC Teryl Austin made clear to reporters, sending the message to Porter at the same time.
With starting WR Gabe Davis out for the Buffalo Bills, Allen will likely look Diggs’ way even more than usual, especially with the season on the line. It’s nearly impossible to completely stop someone like Diggs, but if Porter can at least slow him down, that would be big for Pittsburgh. It’s especially important when you consider the best chance to win this game is a low-scoring slugfest, where Najee Harris controls the tempo on the ground. One or two big plays by Diggs could ruin that script.
