Pittsburgh Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. believes he’s the top cornerback in football. Pro Football Focus believes he’s the 32nd-best. In its recent rankings of the top 32 NFL cornerbacks, Porter just barely made the list, with John Kosko putting Porter at No. 32. He was the only Steelers player to make the list.
“Porter concludes the list, as he turned in an excellent rookie season for the Steelers in 2023. His coverage grades took a hit the last few weeks of the season, but he was still preventing separation at a high level. He allowed just one touchdown pass and just 0.76 yards per cover snap in 2023,” Kosko wrote.
Porter was the second highest-ranked rookie from the class of 2023, with Devon Witherspoon, the fifth overall pick by the Seattle Seahawks, coming in at No. 21. While Porter put together a really strong season when he saw the field, he didn’t receive a significant number of snaps until the second half of the season, so it’s tough to give him the nod over some cornerbacks who we have multiple seasons of tape and production.
For the most part, Porter was a shutdown cornerback last season, although DK Metcalf did give him some trouble. He also had issues with his tackling earlier in the season that he was able to fix, but he also struggled with penalties due to being too grabby with his opponents. So while Porter is certainly a talented cornerback who will be tasked with taking on the opposition’s best players in 2024, he still has some issues to work on.
He’s going to be a leader in the cornerback room though, one that does have two veterans in Anthony Averett and Donte Jackson but is pretty young, with Porter, Cory Trice Jr., Darius Rush and Ryan Watts all entering their second season or younger. With Porter’s performance last season and status as CB1, he’s going to be a guy a lot of people turn to and he’s going to have to continue to develop his leadership skills and ability.
While placing at No. 32 does feel low given what we saw out of Porter last season, it makes a lot of sense given his relative lack of playing time, especially considering who he’s up against, and the fact that some of his flaws could become an issue in 2024. Still, Porter’s expected to do big things in 2024. If he lives up to the hype, then the Steelers can take comfort in the fact they may have finally drafted a talented cornerback.
