Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. believes he should have made the Pro Bowl last season. But for him, that just means the work continues. While his traditional statistics may not dazzle, he did not allow a touchdown, and teams converted fewer than half of their targets thrown in his direction. Managing one interception per season is certainly part of the image issue, but he’ll let his tape speak for him.
“I mean, it is what it is,” Porter told Chris Adamski at the end of last season about the NFL not recognizing him with any postseason accolades. “I’m not going to harp on it too much. The decisions were already made. If I really want to make those type of things, I just got to work harder and put some more plays out there.”
The Steelers selected Joey Porter Jr. 32nd overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. He ascended into a full-time starting role by midseason of his rookie year and soon began shadowing the opposing team’s best wide receiver. While they haven’t relied on shadowing as much recently, he showed he can do it.
Last season, Porter recorded a career-high 14 passes defensed, but just one interception. Surely, more than one of those batted balls was a lost opportunity for an interception. As with pass rushers and their sacks, interceptions are what observers notice for cornerbacks.
According to multiple outlets, Joey Porter Jr. allowed under 49 percent of the targets thrown in his direction to be completed. Although he had just one interception, he allowed just a 57.2 passer rating. And his 333 receiving yards allowed are less than half of what he allowed in 2024. On top of that, he improved on his penalty issues. All told, he really is not far at all from being discussed as a top cornerback.
“Hopefully I don’t have to say too much,” Adamski quotes Porter as saying about his performance. “I’ve tried to really let my work on the field speak for itself. I’m glad people have finally taken a little bit of recognition and see what I’ve been doing, but you’ve got to keep working.”
At least one person earned Porter’s vote for the Pro Bowl — teammate and fellow cornerback Brandin Echols. He told Adamski that Porter “obviously” should have been in the Pro Bowl “or something of that nature.” Like others, or their teammates, who have missed it in the past, he chalked it up to “politics.”
The Steelers don’t often send cornerbacks to the Pro Bowl, and the last time that happened is debatable. Jalen Ramsey made the Pro Bowl in 2025, but he played most of the season at safety. If not Ramsey, then the most recent is Joe Haden in 2019. And the last cornerback they drafted or developed to make the Pro Bowl with them is Rod Woodson, so Joey Porter Jr’s accolades would be a long time coming in Steelers history. Even without the accolades, he is in line to make some money this offseason.
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