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90 In 30: Steelers 2024 Training Camp Preview Series — Joey Porter Jr., Willington Previlon, MyCole Pruitt

By Dave Bryan

Posted on July 11, 2024 at 7:15 am

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June. Next up is the team’s annual training camp, which gets underway in the latter part of July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of Steelers training camp, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time as part of a multi-post series. This Steelers roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow. This series figures to exceed 90 players this year as the team can carry 91 players in total during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.

The next set of players we will preview ahead of the Steelers’ 2024 training camp are Joey Porter Jr., Willington Previlon, and MyCole Pruitt.

CB Joey Porter Jr.: After the Steelers selected Porter in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of Penn State, they brought the young cornerback along slowly in the first half of the regular season.

Porter was limited to playing in certain sub-packages and down and distances in the first half of the 2023 season. That resulted in him logging just 139 defensive snaps in the team’s first six contests. He did, however, become a full-time starter on the outside beginning in Week 8 and never looked back.

In total last season, and including the Steelers’ lone playoff game, Porter registered 45 total tackles, one for a loss, 10 passes defensed and one interception. He allowed just one touchdown reception in 2023 and as the season progressed, he was asked to follow opposing wide receivers around the field some. Porter was penalized 12 times in 2023 and he unfortunately led the Steelers in that statistical category as a rookie.

Porter’s play in 2023 was good enough for him to tie for fifth place in Associated Press voting for the NFL’s annual Defensive Rookie of the Year award for the season with six points. He received one first-place vote as part of that. Porter also won the Steelers’ 2023 Joe Greene Award, which is given annually to the team’s top rookie.

Outlook: For 2024, Porter will obviously be expected to be the Steelers’ top cornerback and within that, it’s likely that he will be asked to follow around top wide receivers on other teams at various times throughout the season, depending on matchups and such. Porter must work on limiting his penalties in 2024 in addition to strengthening his play against the run. Porter registering more interceptions in his second NFL season is something else that should be expected.

If Porter wants to be regarded as one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks after the 2024 season, he will need to earn that distinction and it must be clear and obvious with him only being a second-year player. As much as Porter improved during his rookie season, he still could stand to use some seasoning and development in all phases of his game. He’ll face some incredibly good wide receivers in 2024 so his progress will certainly be fun to track throughout the season.

With Porter an integral part of the defense moving forward, in addition to him being the son of Joey Porter Sr., the young cornerback will be expected to take a step forward in his leadership of that unit. In closing, it’s exciting to think about what kind of play we’ll see out of Porter Jr. in 2024.

DL Willington Previlon: The Steelers claimed Previlon off waivers in late June and at the time of this post, he’s the newest member of the offseason roster. Signed by the Green Bay Packers in 2020 as an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers, Previlon has since spent time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys, and Atlanta Falcons, mostly as an offseason addition or practice squad player. Previlon was elevated to the Packers’ gameday Active/Inactive roster once during his 2020 rookie season but did not play in that Week 2 contest.

In his three seasons at Rutgers, Previlon registered 71 total tackles, 11.5 for loss, four sacks, and three passes defensed. Last year during the preseason, Previlon played 70 defensive snaps as a member of the Buccaneers and eight more on special teams. In those three preseason contests he registered three assisted tackles on defense with another assisted tackle on special teams.

Outlook: Previlon’s addition to the offseason roster was a curious one, especially with the numbers that the Steelers already had at the defensive line position. He will begin training camp at the bottom of the depth chart and after missing the Steelers’ entire offseason sessions, practice reps are likely going to be hard to come by once he arrives in Latrobe.

Assuming he sticks on the offseason roster for the next several weeks, we could see Previlon get a handful of defensive line snaps during the preseason games. Even if that happens, it’s nearly guaranteed that he won’t make the 53-man roster and thus would need to hope that he showed enough this summer to warrant being signed to the practice squad. Previlon merely being on the practice squad to start the 2024 regular season would be a huge accomplishment on his part.

TE MyCole Pruitt: The Steelers signed Pruitt to a one-year, veteran benefit contract for the NFL minimum in early April. He stands to earn another $50,000 in the form of a roster bonus if he ultimately makes the 53-man roster. Pruitt, 32, was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Southern Illinois. He has since played for the Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, and Atlanta Falcons.

For his NFL career, Pruitt has registered 71 receptions for 748 yards and 12 touchdowns on 96 targets. He has played in 109 NFL games. The last several seasons included Pruitt playing in offenses run by new Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith in both Atlanta and Tennessee. Last season with the Falcons, Pruitt registered nine receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets. He logged 402 total offensive snaps in 2023 along with 122 special teams snaps in which he did not register a tackle.

Outlook: Pruitt’s offseason addition wasn’t an overly surprising one, mainly due to his history with Smith in both Atlanta and Tennessee. Even so, Pruitt comes to Pittsburgh as an extremely limited player when it comes to passing game production. Pruitt, however, is used to moving around in offenses over the years and that includes him seeing quite a few snaps at fullback, a position we are likely to see utilized more in Pittsburgh with Smith now coordinating that side of the football. As a blocker, Pruitt, while capable in that phase of his game, has been fairly mediocre overall as of late. Additionally, he’s not much of a special teams asset at this stage of his career.

While Pruitt certainly has a legitimate shot at making the Steelers’ 53-man roster at the start of the 2024 regular season, there’s certainly no guarantee that he will. It quite honestly could wind up being a numbers game when it comes to Pruitt sticking this summer and specifically it could depend on how many tight end/fullback types the team chooses to carry. Obviously, injuries to that position group once training camp gets underway could play a part in whether Pruitt stays or goes. If Pruitt were more of a special teams asset in the way that fellow Steelers TE/FB Connor Heyward is, that would certainly help his cause.

In closing, consider Pruitt’s chances of making the 53-man roster later this summer at right around 50 percent as we sit here ahead of training camp getting underway. If he does make the roster, it’s hard to imagine him logging anywhere close to the 400 offensive snaps that he played in 2023 with the Falcons.

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Related Items:2024 Training Camp, Joey Porter Jr., MyCole Pruitt, Willington Previlon

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