Joey Porter Jr. is ascending to potential stardom as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ No. 1 cornerback. He played the part and talked the talk against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1. Porter and the Steelers held Falcons WR1 Drake London to just two receptions for 15 yards, and Porter made sure to slip in a sly comment to reporters after the game where he chuckled at London’s stat line and remarked, “He did a little warm-up today.”
Mike Tomlin spoke to reporters on Tuesday, and he was asked about Porter’s performance against London and the Falcons.
“He did the job,” Tomlin said, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “He knows the job description. He wants the job description. He wants the assignment of matching up with people week in and week out. Got a lot of respect for Drake London and his talents and the way that they utilize him schematically. I thought Joey did an awesome job, but it’s week-to-week in this business and particularly at the cornerback position because I’m sure there’s a gentleman named Courtland Sutton that’s waiting on him in Denver for example. And that’s the battle of playing corner in this league, but again, he loves it and I’m glad that he does.”
Last week, Porter said that he didn’t know whether he was going to shadow London throughout the game. He frequently shadowed No. 1 receivers in his rookie season, and he was fairly successful in those scenarios, but it seems like the Steelers and Porter are very confident in cornerback Donte Jackson’s ability to cover top receivers as well, meaning that they won’t need Porter to shadow every single game.
The Steelers still opted to match Porter up against London for the majority of the game, particularly because the 6-4 London presented less of a mismatch against 6-2 Porter as opposed to 5-10 Donte Jackson. Porter has the length and size essential to handle big-body receivers, and the game plan worked against the Falcons as he yielded just one catch to London for seven yards in coverage.
As Tomlin noted, Courtland Sutton of the Denver Broncos provides a similar challenge for Porter and the Steelers. Sutton is also 6-4, and he’s been one of the premier jump-ball receivers in the NFL in recent years. Russell Wilson certainly benefitted from Sutton’s abilities, as he threw 10 touchdown passes to the wideout in 2023, including some high-pointed grabs in tight coverage like this one against the Minnesota Vikings.
Porter will likely shadow Sutton for most of the game, and it seems like Tomlin is pretty confident that Porter is up to the task. Being a top corner in the NFL is as much of a mental challenge as it is physical, and Tomlin expressed that Porter wants to face top receivers every single week. Locking down premier receivers is one of the toughest assignments in football, and Porter’s aware of the responsibility being placed on him.
We know that Porter definitely believes he can win his matchup every week, and Week 2 will be the next opportunity for the rising star to welcome another top receiver to Joey Porter Island.
