Joey Porter Jr. strives to form his own legacy with Steelers after being taken in Round 2

It was true to form in the Porter house Friday evening.

As the family gathered at their Pittsburgh-area dwelling to watch the NFL draft, patriarch Joey Porter Sr. offered the most demonstrative, animated reaction when it became known the Pittsburgh Steelers were selecting Joey Porter Jr.

“He was excited,” the younger Porter said of his father. “He was probably louder than me.”

Steelers fans loved the elder Porter in part for having a loud personality. Two decades later, they’ll get a chance to cheer for his son.

Porter Jr., a cornerback from Penn State, was taken at No. 32 overall by the Steelers, the team his father won a Super Bowl with and for whom he spent four summers working as a training-camp ball boy.

“This was something that was always in the back of my mind and my family’s mind, to end up in Pittsburgh,” Porter Jr. said from the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex after making the drive to the Steelers’ facility he’d spent plenty of time at while growing up.

The 6-foot-2½, 193-pound Porter Jr. recognizes that he will always be compared to and associated with his father, who three times was named to a Pro Bowl as an outside linebacker over eight seasons with the Steelers.

But the younger Porter is quick to say that as much as he loves his father, he isn’t just “Peezy’s kid.”

“It’s gonna have my flavor to it,” Porter Jr. said of the family legacy with the Steelers. “It’s me, it’s not him. He understands that.

“It’s my time to shine. He did what he had to do – and it’s my time right now.”

In taking Porter with the first pick of the second round – one acquired via the trade of Chase Claypool to the Chicago Bears on Nov. 1 – the Steelers resisted the temptation to trade it.

Despite widespread speculation over the previous 24 hours that the Steelers would deal the pick to replenish their war chest in later rounds, general manager Omar Khan – working his first draft – stayed pat. As far back as early this week, coach Mike Tomlin was on record being open about the Steelers being willing to field offers for it – especially being that “quarterback-shopping teams” might be particularly interested.

That heightened even more after Kentucky’s Will Levis surprisingly went unselected in the first round. After the Steelers chose Porter, the Arizona Cardinals promptly traded the No. 33 pick to the Tennessee Titans so that the Titans could take Levis.

Porter and Levis shared that they were two of the four invitees by the league to Kansas City for the draft who were not selected in the made-for-TV event that has become the first round. Porter was so widely assumed to be a first-round pick he was one of 17 players who spent Thursday night in the “green room.”

“Last night,” Porter said, “I was mad. I had an edge on me, and this is the perfect way to end my day right here. I just forgot all about last night.

“I’ve got a chip on my shoulder. I am trying to prove myself. It will add a little more fuel to the fire. All the more reason to go out and put on for Steelers nation and my pops and everything.”

While his father was a coach, Porter Jr. was a regular at team practices, often running or doing drills after or before the Steelers practiced. On Friday, he recalled running reps as a young teenager covering then-Steelers All Pro receiver Antonio Brown.

Porter stayed in-state for college and was a three-year starter for Penn State. The Porter had 11 pass breakups in 10 games last season, earning the Nittany Lions’ most valuable defensive player award while also being honored as first-team all-Big Ten and second-team AP all-American.

Porter made a pre-draft visit to the Steelers, meeting with Tomlin in a professional capacity after countless social encounters over the years when Porter and Tomlin’s son, Dino, forged a close friendship.

But as Tomlin told Porter Jr., it’s all business now. After all, Tomlin fired Porter Sr. in 2019.

Now, a younger Porter embarks on making his own mark on the Steelers.

”I understand what my dad did, and I understand his legacy,” Porter Jr. said. “I am trying to add on to the family legacy. There are going to be some ups and downs to that – but I am ready.”

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