Joey Porter Jr. had a decent second NFL season, but one big thing held him back from being elite. He was the most penalized defensive back in the league, and those free yards and first downs put the defense in a tough spot at times. DB coach Gerald Alexander explained some of the teaching points that he is working through with Porter in an effort to clean those up.
“Joey does a great job. I think he’s one of the elite guys at the line of scrimmage as far as disrupting releases and getting hands on and stuff like that, and so it’s really post that,” Alexander said during mandatory minicamp on [Post-Gazette Sports’ YouTube page](https://youtu.be/NLHh3AFA4OI?si=LdvmU3AjT5fmcxpY). “Now it’s time just to trust his transition, trust his process, trust his coverage ability. And then obviously when he is in the position to be able to defend the ball down the field, it’s getting his eyes up and challenging that and going for the ball instead of trying to think about, ‘How do I keep the receiver from not receiving the ball?'”
Cornerbacks have one of the most difficult jobs in football. It’s among the most obvious positions to identify when somebody messes up and the difference between an incompletion and a 50-yard touchdown that changes the course of the game can be a matter of inches and split-second decisions. Young players in man coverage might be overly focused on staying glued to the receiver every step of the way, but Alexander wants Porter to start focusing more on playing the ball.
“Making sure that we’re getting our eyes back and playing the ball and not necessarily playing the receiver, especially when we’re in good positions to do so,” Alexander said. “You want to play to win versus playing not to lose. You’re not thinking about failure, you’re thinking about how do I put myself in position to finish this play versus preventing him from making one.”
It’s similar to something you would hear in a UFC cage match. It’s never a good idea to let the opponent dictate the flow of the match. The goal is to have an opponent play your game, not the other way around. For Porter, that means winning early off the line of scrimmage with his 34-inch arms and then doing the rest with his eyes. Where he gets in trouble is getting tunnel vision on receivers and grabbing them out of their breaks. It may seem overly simplified, but Alexander wants him to focus on winning rather than not losing.
One theory about Porter’s penalties comes from his bright yellow gloves that he tends to wear. Perhaps it makes it easier for referees to identify small grabs, but Alexander says that has nothing to do with Porter’s issues. Porter himself [downplayed the gloves](https://steelersdepot.com/2025/06/joey-porter-jr-has-plans-to-clean-up-penalties-changing-his-gloves-isnt-among-them/) in a recent interview at spring practices, though he acknowledged he must clean up the penalties.
He has a diverse group of receivers to practice against this year to test his abilities, too. DK Metcalf is one of the only receivers who gave him problems during his stellar rookie season and his size and athleticism is a great test for any corner. But he can also test himself against the smaller and shiftier types in Calvin Austin III and Roman Wilson.
If Alexander can help him get in the right mindset and clean up his play, Porter has everything needed to become a top corner in the game.