Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has a famous saying that he loves to use when discussing his top players on either side of the football going against each other: iron sharpens iron.
That is never more apparent or present than during training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, where Tomlin and the Steelers search for these matchups.
One matchup that has drawn plenty of attention in the last two years is cornerback Joey Porter Jr. against wide receiver George Pickens. Pickens has gotten the better of Porter in most instances during the individual battles, but Porter has also made his fair share of plays in the matchup.
For Porter, entering his second season in the NFL, that matchup in training camp and then daily in practice throughout the season gets him prepared for what he’s going to see weekly in the NFL. Appearing on the “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward” podcast that dropped Thursday morning, Porter spoke about the matchup and how he relishes the opportunity to compete best on best.
“Man, it’s great. You know, I think he’s definitely one of the top wide receivers in the league that we have right now,” Porter said to Heyward regarding Pickens, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. ‘So the fact that I get to go against him, and Trees [Cory Trice Jr.] gets to go against him every day and sharpen our iron just to get us ready for the season, it’s pretty good.
“Just actually even all the wide receivers that we have, they all been doing pretty good throughout camp, giving us different looks to get us ready for the season.”
Pickens might not be considered a top 10 receiver in the NFL just yet, or even a top 20 receiver in the eyes of some, but there is no denying the talent and tools he brings to the table.
He’s a big-play receiver with a massive catch radius and elite body control, allowing him to make some absurd plays. His hands are quite good, too, as Porter has found out the last two training camps, being on the wrong end of viral plays in Latrobe.
But in those moments, Porter has learned and grown from them. He’s taken those lessons to the field in games and developed into quite a good cornerback himself, stepping up into a starting role midway through the 2023 season as a rookie and quickly becoming a shutdown cornerback.
Those matchups with Pickens and even the rest of the receiver room featuring accomplished veterans like Van Jefferson, Scotty Miller and Quez Watkins have helped Porter develop even further. They have also helped second-year cornerback Cory Trice Jr. get up to speed after missing his entire rookie season due to a knee injury.
“Yeah, man. It definitely makes you feel more prepared going to the game. Especially going against all those guys ’cause they all got something different,” Trice Jr. added regarding matchups against the Steelers’ WR room during training camp. “They’re all good at something. So, you know, whenever I go up against ’em, I know I gotta work this against a certain person.
“So now when I go in the game, I feel like I got a whole compete package ’cause I’m going against so many different, good guys.”
There might be some concerns about the Steelers’ wide receiver room as a whole behind Pickens, which has led to Pittsburgh consistently being in the conversation regarding a potential trade for Brandon Aiyuk from the 49ers, but for the guys who go up against them daily in practice, there’s a lot of talent there.
It might not look all that great on paper, but they all fit well together. They all bring something different to the table and challenge the young cornerbacks daily. Iron truly sharpening iron.
It’ll be very interesting to see how it plays out on the field in 2024, especially after another demanding, intense training camp where guys were battling, best on best, Steelers versus Steelers.
Check out the full episode of “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward” below.
