Has Joey Porter Jr. closed his case to become a Steelers starter?

PITTSBURGH — Seven weeks after handing his dad the ball from his first interception in his preseason debut, Pittsburgh Steelers rookie Joey Porter Jr. delivered another ball to the sideline.

This time, he put it straight into the arms of head coach Mike Tomlin and was rewarded with a hug and congratulatory slap on his helmet. And this time, the interception counted — in more ways than one.

.@JoeyPorterJr‘s first career INT ball goes to Coach T 🖤💛 pic.twitter.com/XT7RGAzjjr

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 8, 2023

One-on-one with Odell Beckham Jr. on third-and-goal, Porter followed the Baltimore Ravens receiver into the end zone and easily snagged an off-target, inside throw from quarterback Lamar Jackson. Less than three minutes later, quarterback Kenny Pickett hit George Pickens for a 41-yard go-ahead touchdown in the Steelers’ 17-10 win against the Ravens.

“I’m the rookie out there against Odell Beckham on the third down, so I already kind of had that in the back of my mind, ‘They’re going to try me on this play,'” Porter said, grinning in front of his locker afterward.

“… It was a party on the sidelines. It was definitely great to turn up with my guys. The coaches were excited for me. Earlier this week, Coach T was like, ‘Get a pick and hand it to me on the sideline.’ So that’s exactly what I did. I handed it right to him.”

The pick not only gave the Steelers a surge of momentum by keeping the Ravens off the board after a Steelers turnover, but it also cemented Porter’s case for a starting job when the Steelers resume their season after their Week 6 bye.

“I feel like I did good today,” said Porter, who also had two tackles. “It’s always on the coaches, what they want out there and what they see. Hopefully I put enough good tape out there to keep me out there.”

Tomlin confirmed he did indeed like what he saw out of the rookie — and reiterated his message from the past several weeks.

“Porter has been playing increasingly more with each passing week,” Tomlin said. “I’ve been really transparent about the inclusion of all the rookies. Oftentimes we start with a good foundational plan in terms of how they participate, and we grow from there. He’s done a solid job with the work given. And today he got more. He did a nice job with the work he was given today.”

After playing just four snaps in the first half Sunday, Porter came out in the second as the starting cornerback in the Steelers’ base defense for the first time, playing a career-high 25 snaps, good for 37.3% of the defensive snaps. In the base alignment, Porter replaced veteran Patrick Peterson, who played 91% of defensive snaps, his fewest of the season.

“We tell Joey all the time, he’s so tall and long on the outside as a corner, it’s going to be hard for teams to complete those types of passes on him, especially down in the red zone like that,” Peterson said. “That’s why we got him. That’s why we drafted him and everything is finally starting to come together for him. I can just tell the game is starting to slow down for him.”

Neither of the Steelers’ starting cornerbacks has performed consistently in the first quarter of the season. Through four weeks, Peterson allowed a 71.4% completion percentage as the nearest defender on passes of at least 10 air yards, the second-highest completion percentage in the NFL with a minimum of 10 targets, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

Against the Texans, Peterson was targeted six times and allowed five receptions for 94 yards and two touchdowns. Entering Sunday’s game, Peterson and Levi Wallace allowed a plus-22.4 target EPA combined when in man coverage and plus-4.3 combined target EPA as the nearest defenders in zone coverage, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

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T.J. Watt comes up big on defense with late fumble recovery, sack

T.J. Watt recovers a fumble on one drive and ends the Ravens’ hopes on the next possession with a sack on fourth down

Still, the Steelers have been cautious in working Porter into the lineup, using him most often on third down and in the dime package. He played just seven snaps in the season opener, then worked up to 13 in Week 2 against the Cleveland Browns. He played 24 against the Las Vegas Raiders — including a tight third-down defense of Davante Adams in the first quarter — and just 10 in Houston. In the win against the Raiders, Porter played 20 coverage snaps and was targeted four times with two catches for 25 yards. In the same game, Peterson was targeted 10 times with seven receptions for 88 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while Wallace was also targeted 10 times for six receptions, 64 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

“He’s working hard,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said of Porter prior to the Ravens game. “I like the way he’s working. He’s making strides. Is he ready for a full-time [role] right now? I’m not sure I can say that I really feel great about that, yes, but he’s working in the right direction. He’s trending in the right direction. And at some point, we expect him to be out there. …

“It’s always different to come into the league as you’re starting to learn it and all of a sudden just throw you and thrust you into the starting lineup. That’s a different animal. So, I want to be pretty sure that he’s ready to handle all that because I don’t want to throw him in there and he does not have the success that we all envision for him.”

When Porter was thrown into the mix in the second half of Sunday’s win, he rose to the occasion. He played 18 coverage snaps and was targeted just once — the third-down throw to Beckham when he grabbed the interception.

The pick was especially momentous for Porter because the No. 32 overall pick recorded just one interception in three seasons at Penn State. “I didn’t like that around my name, that I couldn’t catch, that I couldn’t make turnovers,” Porter said of his pre-draft analysis. “I’ve been working on that this whole time I’ve been with the Steelers, me and my boy Lou [Balde], the equipment manager.”

While Porter’s move into the starting lineup could reduce Peterson’s snaps, it doesn’t necessarily mean taking him off the field completely. Peterson was vocal in his desire to be a versatile player when he signed in free agency, and the Steelers could use the bye week to find ways to get him on the field with Porter in positions where Peterson doesn’t have to go step-for-step with younger, speedier receivers.

“[Porter] got a little bit more playing time today going into the bye week,” Peterson said. “So I’m sure there’s going to be finding ways to get him more snaps. We’ll have to find out next week and see what Coach’s decision is, but just extremely proud of the way that he came in and stepped in and stepped up big for us and making that huge play to eventually helping us win that ball game.

“…He’s going to have to play at some point. [He] wasn’t a second-round draft pick for no reason. Coach [Tomlin] does a great job of giving guys an opportunity. Not too much, not too little, but when their time is ready to shine, they’ll be more than ready to shine.”

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