It wouldn’t be surprising if a young player like Joey Porter Jr. felt a little uneasy about his team bringing in not one, but two All-Pro corners during a potential contract year. However, Porter seems to have a good attitude about the moves and views them as a positive development for him.
“I’m happy, but I’ve always been a fan of Ramsey, so the fact that we got him on the squad and I can learn from him has only been great for me,” Porter said via TribLive’s Chris Adamski on X. “We got elite corners on our team now, and I’m just happy about it.”
Most young corners are lucky to learn from even one All-Pro or future Hall of Famer. Porter has the unique privilege of playing with three or four of them in his first three seasons so far. Patrick Peterson, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and now Darius Slay and Ramsey are great players to learn from. And Slay specifically stated his interest in mentoring Porter to help him tap into his immense potential as a shutdown corner in the NFL.
How the Steelers utilize their top three corners is one of the most interesting storylines to watch throughout the rest of this summer, but Mike Tomlin has already stated their goal to have all three on the field at the same time as much as possible.
Porter was asked how the division of labor would work.
“I don’t know, but I know he [Tomlin] said we’re all on the field at the same time,” Porter said. “So, however the matchup plays out, that’s what we going to do. But I just know that we’re all gonna be working together.”
Their game plan might vary from week to week depending on the matchups they want to exploit. They have the capability to play man-to-man against any team in the NFL now.
Ramsey and Slay are approaching the ends of their careers as the old guard in the NFL. Porter still has every chance to take the baton from them and become the next dominant man corner, and it sounds like he has the right attitude to maximize this unique opportunity.
