Coming into camp, my attention – and probably yours – was on CB Joey Porter Jr. The Pittsburgh Steelers second year corner coming off a promising and ascending rookie season, Porter was, and still is, the team’s No. 1 corner. The question at corner was everything else. The starting slot, the depth on the outside, and Donte Jackson, the man starting opposite Porter.
If Porter becomes the next shutdown corner, that means Jackson will be peppered with targets, making him a key cog of the Steelers’ secondary. With all the usual warnings of it being the first two days of practice, Jackson has stood out the most of Pittsburgh’s corners.
That’s not to say he’s been perfect. He hasn’t. George Pickens has given him fits, primarily in 7v7. But in this environment so heavily slanted to the offense, receivers should make plays. Seeing any resistance from the defense is a positive. Jackson’s easily cleared that bar.
On one of the first plays of camp Thursday, he defended a vertical throw to Pickens ending in an incompletion. Later in the day, one rep after falling and getting beat by Van Jefferson, Jackson read and broke on a slant for Marquez Callaway, knocking the pass away. Not only was it a good rep, it showed mental toughness to put the past play behind him and make the next one. The short-term memory everyone corner needs and most vets have.
Jackson made plays on Friday. That included another excellent defense of Pickens on a Fields throw down the right sideline. With inside leverage, he squeezed Pickens to the sideline to force the incompletion.
He’s even shown willingness in run support. Which, admittedly, is even more difficult to evaluate without pads or live tackling but he’s set the edge in the run game to turn running backs inside.
His NFL resume is still far more important than two OTA-like sessions in Pittsburgh. And the big league results have been mixed, at best. While I didn’t think Donte Jackson, acquired in the Diontae Johnson deal, played as poorly as he was portrayed in Carolina a year ago, his tape was uneven. That’s probably how things will go in Pittsburgh. Some good, some bad.
But there’s value in having a veteran corner like him in such a young room. Cory Trice Jr., Darius Rush, Kalon Barnes, and Porter Jr., the other current top names on the depth chart, no one is older than 25. Jackson is an elder statesman. And through the first two days of camp, a solid-looking corner.
