The Pittsburgh Steelers are often defined by their physicality and potency in the trenches, but the back seven threatened their season in 2024. They looked out of sync late in the season and played worse than their collective talent would suggest.
Subsequently, Pittsburgh is still waiting for corner Joey Porter Jr.’s breakout. It’s been a rocky two years for the second-generation Steeler, but his pedigree and physical tools lend themselves to optimism.
Pittsburgh reinforced the secondary with veteran Darius Slay Jr. in the offseason. If this defense is going to ascend toward the league’s elite, he’ll need to be joined by the improvement of several young starters.
On Tuesday, Steelers defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander explained the keys to Porter’s development.
“There’s a little bit of both (trust and technique fixes),” Alexander said, via Nick Farabaugh. “I mean, there’s a process to having success within a given play and obviously not dealing with an error of penalizing yourself due to maybe a lack of technique within the route. 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. It’s not necessarily getting aggressive beyond that combative stage within that five yards, and now it’s just time to trust his transition, trust his process, trust his coverage ability, and then obviously when he’s in a 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.’”
Defenses can live with inconsistencies; it’s par for the course for a young cornerback refining his game. But it’s a lot easier to survive those bumps in the road when splash plays, in the form of ball production, erase some of those mistakes.
For Porter, those flashes haven’t come in bunches. He’s logged just two interceptions and 17 passes defended through two seasons. He hasn’t forced or recovered a fumble, either.
Unlocking that part of his game is critical to creating Pittsburgh’s most dangerous defense.
“A lot of the elimination of those things comes in the form of how do we develop and continue to detail some of the technique,” Alexander continued. “... And so I try to get those guys to understand the mentality that it takes in order to be able to play the ball down the field and not so much worry about if the receiver catches it. And 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.’”
Between head coach Mike Tomlin, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, Alexander, and Slay, there are plenty of quality voices in Porter’s ear. For the sake of the Steelers’ defense, they’ll hope that the supporting cast plays a significant role in Porter’s next step.