Steelers Joey Porter Jr. dealing with minor injury but ready to move into starting role if needed

As his role in the Pittsburgh Steelers secondary increases, rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. patiently is waiting to make his first NFL start.

Given the right set of circumstances, it could come as soon as Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.

Starting left cornerback Levi Wallace is dealing with a foot injury that has limited him to one partial practice this week. Porter is dealing with a calf issue of his own that limited his participation Thursday, but he said it won’t keep him from playing against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The question, then, is whether he will run out of the tunnel with the defensive starters or remain the top backup cornerback.

“You definitely want to be out there for the first snap and hear your name called,” Porter said Thursday, “but sometimes you’ve got to take a back seat and wait a little bit.”

After opening the season as an outside corner in the little-used dime defense, Porter’s playing time essentially has doubled in each of the past two games. He went from playing 14% of the defensive snaps to 40% when his interception in the end zone helped the Steelers defeat the Baltimore Ravens.

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In the Steelers’ first game after the bye, Porter’s playing time jumped to 78% in the 24-17 victory against the Los Angeles Rams.

With Wallace struggling in pass coverage before his injury, Porter could see another increase in playing time this weekend.

“I don’t want to put a percent on it, but I’ll say he’s earned more snaps,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Thursday. “He’s played well. The thing we’ve talked about with him and we’ve addressed is the tackling. If you want to be an every-down corner in this league, you’ve got to be able to tackle.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Porter has been responsible for four missed tackles this season. Only four players on the Steelers have more, although two also play in the secondary. Strong safety Keanu Neal and cornerback Patrick Peterson have six apiece. Inside linebackers Elandon Roberts and Kwon Alexander have five each.

“It’s finishing up the techniques of tackling,” Porter said. “Wrapping up, finishing, rolling with that. It’s been going smooth (in practice).”

Porter was taken with the first pick of the second round because of his ability to cover wide receivers and break up passes. In that area, Austin believes the rookie cornerback has made the necessary adjustments and progressions through six games.

“He’s a smart kid, and he asks good questions in the meetings,” Austin said. “He’s been around the ball. He’s doing a good job in that regard. I have no worries about him knowing what we’re doing or how we’re doing it. Like everything, it’s the execution of it.”

Rams rookie Puka Nacua led all pass catchers with eight receptions for 154 yards last Sunday, but he didn’t catch any of the three passes targeted for him while Porter was in coverage. One came on third down in the fourth quarter.

“He did some really good things coverage-wise,” Austin said. “It’s what we talk about every week: The more he plays, the better he plays, the better he progresses and the more snaps he gets. I think he earned those snaps last week. He’ll continue to do that.”

Porter played all but one of his 49 snaps against the Rams at left cornerback. Peterson switched to the right side and subbed for Wallace when he wasn’t moving inside to play in the slot in subpackages. Overall, half of Peterson’s defensive snaps were in the slot while splitting the other half between the left and right sides.

“Left versus right is not a big difference in my book,” Porter said. “They want to keep me on one side, so I’m honed in on that side. It’s perfect for me.”

Austin is wary of asking Porter to move around in the Steelers defense at this young stage of his Steelers career.

“It’s always easier to do that when you’re training a young corner,” he said. “It’s easy to keep him outside, let him learn that, get a feel for the game and how the routes are run out there so you don’t give him a whole bunch of different things and different sides.

“Let him learn and soak all that in until you feel comfortable.”