The Steelers have found their next franchise cornerback in Joey Porter Jr.
The No. 32 overall pick in 2023 put together an impressive rookie season, and by the end of the year, he was shadowing opposing teams’ No. 1 wide receivers weekly.
Porter Jr. is a lock to be one of Pittsburgh’s outside cornerbacks this season, but who will play opposite him is still up for grabs. He believes fellow teammate and draft classmate Cory Trice Jr. can do the same things he can.
I just been telling him the same thing, ‘If I can do it, I know you can do it.’ We’re basically the same body type,” Porter Jr. said.
Trice, a seventh-round pick by the Steelers in 2023, couldn’t prove that because he tore his ACL in the first padded training camp practice last year.
Trice was showing promise as some believed he looked better than Porter Jr. during the early portions of the offseason program. He will soon get to prove that again as he is finally back on the field after 10 months of rehab.
Trice is not yet cleared, but he said he’ll “be ready to go” by training camp’s start. Porter Jr. can see his growing excitement.
“Cory my dog. That’s my guy,” Porter Jr. added. “So just happy to see him have that smile back on his face, just to get back on the field.”
If Porter Jr. is correct in that he sees himself in Trice, Pittsburgh will have landed two franchise cornerbacks in the same draft.
“We know what we can do on the field and we’re just trying to do that same thing on the field together,” Porter Jr. stated.
Trice has a lot to prove. As for Porter Jr., however, he’s planning to take his game to another level in 2024.
“Just keep getting better. Keep stacking up what I did from last year,” Porter Jr. concluded. “I always want to follow the top guys and dominate. So that’s what I’m looking forward to doing this year.”
