Physicality: you either have it, or you don’t.
Fortunately for Pittsburgh Steelers second-year cornerback Joey Porter Jr., physicality is his middle name.
It helps that it’s in his bloodline, due to his father, Joey Porter Sr., but there’s more to being physical than just knowing about it. Porter walks the walk, especially in coverage.
He’s a press-man cornerback with great length and strength, which was his calling card coming out of Penn State in the 2023 NFL Draft. During his first NFL season that physicality showed up right away.
According to Pro Football Focus, Porter is one of the most physical cornerbacks in the NFL, based on its new data point measuring when coverage defenders make contact with a receiver in a route.
Porter ranked No. 3 in the NFL in the new data point at 34.2%, just behind Atlanta’s A.J. Terrell (40.5%) and Washington’s Michael Davis (38.2%).
“Porter brings physicality to the Steelers’ secondary and has proven to be one of the best young cornerbacks in the NFL,” PFF’s John Kosko writes. “When he made contact with a receiver in 2023, he allowed just a 45.3 passer rating and a 38.2% completion percentage.”
That length and physicality stood out right away from Porter, who was inserted into the starting lineup for the Steelers in Week 8 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Quickly, Porter took on the top matchups weekly and became that true shutdown, No. 1 cornerback for the Steelers.
Prior to taking over as a starter, Porter played a key role as a rotational cornerback. He had a pivotal interception in Week 5 against the Baltimore Ravens in the end zone in a 17-10 win, which was his only interception of the season.
Outside of that though he clamped down on receivers time and time again. The only time he really struggled in coverage was against Seattle’s DK Metcalf in Week 17.
As a rookie, Porter finished with a 65.2 overall grade from PFF in 806 snaps. He had a 67.9 grade in coverage, allowing just 25 receptions for 384 yards a touchdown while breaking up six passes and recording one interception. He was really good in coverage on the season, allowing the second-lowest completion percentage of any defensive back in football at 45.2%.
While the numbers look really solid from his rookie season, it wasn’t without some bumps and bruises along the way.
Porter really struggled early on as a tackler, though he ultimately cleaned it up in a major way down the stretch. He also had a tough time adjusting to the NFL’s rules in coverage, leading to a number of flags for holding and pass interference. Sometimes, he was too physical.
But as head coach Mike Tomlin likes to say, you’d rather say ‘Whoa than sic’ em’ and that’s the case with Porter. He’ll find that fine line in coverage between being physical and aggressive and playing within the rules. His future is exceptionally bright, and with his physicality, he could really take his game to a whole other level in 2024.
