After accepting an invite to both the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers minicamp, Ferris State cornerback Shon Stephens is signing with the Philadelphia Eagles. Justin Melo of The Draft Network reported the news.
Philadelphia held its rookie minicamp this past weekend and Stephens impressed enough to earn a contract. The cousin of Joey Porter Jr., he would’ve had an opportunity to earn a contract with the Steelers and play alongside Porter as he had accepted an invite to the Steelers rookie minicamp, but the Eagles pounced on the opportunity to sign him before he could get to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh’s minicamp will take place later this week, from May 10-12.
Stephens impressed at Michigan State’s Pro Day where the Steelers had director of college scouting Dan Colbert in attendance. At that Pro Day, Stephens ran a 40 dash in the 4.3s and had 19 reps on the bench press, a 10″ broad jump and a 36.5-inch vertical leap. The Steelers didn’t address the cornerback position until the sixth round of the draft, when they took Texas’ Ryan Watts, and Stephens could’ve came in and competed in a cornerback room that doesn’t have a ton of reliable depth behind Donte Jackson and Porter. Stephens also could’ve been an option in the slot and competed with UDFA Beanie Bishop Jr. for reps at the position during minicamp.
With the Steelers’ love of bloodlines, adding the cousin of their top cornerback and nephew of team legend Joey Porter would’ve made sense, but the Eagles had interest in Stephens pre-draft and worked to make sure they could add him. He’s an intriguing flier due to his ball skills, as he racked up 16 interceptions over the last two seasons at Ferris State. He also worked out with the Porter family during the pre-draft process.
Stephens will now look to make it in an Eagles cornerback room that’s had an infusion of youth with the team drafting Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean in the first two rounds. The room features veterans Darius Slay, James Bradberry and Avonte Maddox.
Pittsburgh has Cory Trice Jr., Watts and Darius Rush as options on the outside behind Jackson and Porter, but Trice is coming off a torn ACL and has dealt with injury issues his whole career, while Rush had limited snaps as a rookie after the Steelers claimed him off waivers from the Kansas City Chiefs. While all three are intriguing prospects, it’s going to be tough to rely on them to be major contributors in 2024, and adding more depth with Stephens could’ve been a good option. However, there’s still plenty of time until Week 1 and the Steelers could still continue to look to beef up their cornerback room.
