PITTSBURGH — Now seriously, what else did you think Joey Porter Jr. was going to say?
Porter is a cornerback — a position that requires supreme confidence and swagger at all times — and he grew up around one of the all-time great trash-talkers and one of the best linebackers to ever put on a Pittsburgh Steelers uniform. So his answer was pretty much a given when he was asked, “Who is the best cornerback in the NFL?”
“Me for sure,” Porter said following an OTA practice last week.
Of course, Porter followed with a list of the usual suspects: Sauce Gardner, Pat Surtain II, Jaire Alexander, Denzel Ward and others. But he was also quick to note that he believes that his rookie season — when he almost immediately started to travel with the opponent’s No. 1 receiver once he broke into the starting line midway through the season — not only set him apart but is a precursor to his second season.
“There are a lot of good DBs in this league,” Porter said. “Nobody was doing what I was doing going against WR1s the entire year and locking him down. I don’t care if I am mentioned in there or not because they are going to hear my name eventually.”
If you didn’t know better, you could probably just file that under the Porter family bravado.
YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!!!! pic.twitter.com/tmD8wmX6vo
— NFL (@NFL) October 8, 2023
But even though Joey Jr. has the Porter last name and grew up with a father who infamously wouldn’t back down from anything — including trying to get on a bus to fight Ray Lewis to calling the 2005 juggernaut Colts team soft to making Jerramy Stevens a household name during the week leading up to Super Bowl XL for what he thought was disrespecting Jerome Bettis — there was no disrespect in his words.
Instead, it was more supreme confidence in his abilities, even with only 11 career starts under his belt.
“I always try to keep my confidence up, my swagger up,” Porter said. “Coming into the building, I always felt that I was that guy. You have to work to get that respect, but I think everybody understands what I can bring to the table. I always had the mentality as a kid of wanting the best just to see where I stack up. I am always going to pick me over anybody else. I always have had that confidence.”
Wonder who he got that from?
“Probably the most impressive component of where he is, is his mindset,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said during the offseason. “He wants the fight. He wants the tough coverage. He’s extremely competitive in that way.”
Yet, he’s open to teaching, whether it’s from his All-Pro father or the new guy lined up next to him.
Now, Joey Sr. was more direct and to the point than recently acquired veteran Donte Jackson, but the underlying theme is that Joey Jr. is open to anything that might make him better.
Porter was passed on by everybody in the first round of last year’s draft before the Steelers made him the first pick of the second round. He was the fifth cornerback taken and faced the pressure of living up not only to the legacy his father left but to what Tomlin expected from a kid who grew up on the field and around the team he was coaching.
The Steelers slow-played Porter last year mostly because of his tackling. He remembers early in the season missing a tackle and then meeting up with his family in the parking lot after the game.
“He said, ‘You already know what play I am going to talk about,’” Porter remembered his dad saying. “He would always tell me that I never wanted that on my tape. It was rookie jitters, and once it started slowing down for me, it got better.”
Porter started his first game in Week 7 against Jacksonville. The following week, he approached Tomlin and asked if he could follow around Titans receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Porter lined up against Hopkins on 72 percent of his routes and gave up one catch for 17 yards while being targeted only five times in a 20-16 win.
“It just might be a Porter thing that we all have,” Porter said. “I was like that as a kid.”
It set the stage for a solid rookie season for Porter, who finished with one interception, 43 tackles, 10 passes defensed, and a tackle for loss. He allowed a 47.6 completion percentage, giving up just 30 receptions and one touchdown, per Pro Football Reference, as he tied for fifth in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.
The mindset of being the top dog started the day he arrived at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, just hours after he was drafted.
“I wanted that from the jump,” Porter said. “I had that in my mind when I got here. I talked to Coach T, talked about that when I first got here about how me and George (Pickens) were going to go at it in camp. That’s what I am looking forward to at camp this year, too.”
What makes Porter so good is that he is open to learning from anybody.
The Steelers traded for Jackson in the offseason to pair with Porter. Jackson has started 76 games over six years with the Carolina Panthers but never was considered one of the top corners in the league despite having a well-rounded game.
GO DEEPER
The Steelers’ most compelling position battle? That might be CB2
Yet Porter is always picking Jackson’s brain, especially on the field and during practice.
“He is a football sponge,” Jackson said. “Guys like that, they are always putting the team first. He asks a lot of questions, and he is willing to work on anything you tell him. He will pull you aside in mid-practice and say look at this. That’s always a good sign when dealing with young football players regardless of position. You want them to be infatuated with football, and he already is.”
Porter bulked up some in the offseason. He said he’s stronger and would like to play at 205 pounds this year (he played last year between 198 and 200).
“I am big for my position so being 198-200 wasn’t really a big difference to me,” Porter said. “I think at 205, I can be more physical in the run game and more physical on the line.”
Quez Watkins, who ran a 4.35 at the combine four years ago, got the best of Porter on a 70-yard deep ball from Russell Wilson late last week, so the second-year CB is far from being a finished product, but he’s on the right path.
“Man, he is a tall and athletic corner,” Watkins said. “I didn’t know he was that tall. This was the first time I saw him in person. His size was surprising.”
Not as surprising as Porter proclaiming he’s the best cornerback in the NFL … but before long, he just might have a point.
(Photo: Charles LeClaire / USA Today)
