Tim Benz: Slipping to Steelers in 2nd round will be a blessing in disguise for Joey Porter Jr.

New Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. might not see it like this right now. But the fact that he slipped to the second round is going to wind up being a blessing in disguise.

For him and for the Steelers.

C’mon. We all heard it. I admit it. I thought about it in recent months. Maybe I even said it aloud.

“Are they really just going to take Joey Porter Jr. in the first round because he’s the son of a Steelers All-Pro and a former member of Mike Tomlin’s staff?”

It would’ve been intentionally ignorant to ignore that as a point of deliberation in advance of Thursday’s first round. But it also would’ve been unfair to assume.

Unfair to both Porter and the organization.

After all, most draft boards had Porter rated third or fourth among cornerbacks. Everyone knew the Steelers needed a corner.

So, based on draft prognostications, if Porter had been there at No. 17 when the Steelers selected, the Penn State product should’ve been viewed as a logical fit regardless of concerns about NFL nepotism.

But then a bunch of quarterbacks and running backs got drafted in the first round. All the corners slipped, including coveted Oregon product Christian Gonzalez. Just one cornerback (Devon Witherspoon, Seattle Seahawks) was gone by pick 14. Georgia’s standout tackle Broderick Jones was still available. So the Steelers traded up to No. 14.

“I thought I was coming home at (pick) 14,” Porter said at a Friday night news conference. “I was, like,‘This is the jump.’… Then they did their pick, and it is what it is.”

If the Steelers had taken Porter there and left Jones and Gonzalez on the board, then the cronyism talk would’ve gone into an even higher gear.

Porter wouldn’t have just been scrutinized as an NFL rookie playing one of the most difficult positions on the field. He would’ve also been the player the Steelers took just because he’s Peezy’s kid.

Especially if Jones and Gonzalez had gone on to big things with other teams.

“I don’t think that pressure will be any different no matter where he went, whether we traded up, took him at 17 or got him when we got him,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Friday night. “That pressure is the same for players to come in and perform.”

Maybe. But based on how things played out that theory is severely dented. It’s one less stress for the rookie to endure.

The Steelers actively traded up to get somebody else while Porter Jr. was still available. Every team with a draft pick had a chance to select him, and he was still there to open Day 2.

As a result, Joey Porter Jr. can just play football. He actually has become a draft choice that’s perceived as having a little extra value by falling to the second round, as opposed to being someone who would’ve inevitably been painted overvalued by a franchise that just couldn’t say no to the romantic storyline.

Four summers as Steelers ball boy. On the field with his father at Super Bow XL as a child. It was a story with all the touchy-feely vibes in the world. And it could’ve been spun sour on Day 1.

However, under these circumstances, it feels like we can embrace that circle-of-life angle once more. Every other franchise had a chance to get him, and he’s a Steeler anyway.

Unburdened by the weight of just being a “legacy pick.”

“It definitely helps the narrative. But I’m just blessed to be here,” Porter said. “That chip on my shoulder (from falling out of Round 1) is going to last. I’m going to prove to myself that I’m that guy. I feel like I was CB1.”

I look at it this way: If I had hopped in a Black and Gold time machine a week ago and then returned before Thursday’s first round and said, “I have been to the future. And after 32 picks, the Steelers will have drafted both Broderick Jones and Joey Porter Jr., and it cost only a fourth-rounder,” we all would’ve hoisted an Iron City in celebration.

The way the Steelers front office went about making it happen (with some fortuitous help from the draft board itself) certainly helps. Not only from the standpoint of dimming the spotlight on Porter Jr., but also on Tomlin and Omar Khan as he goes through his first draft as a general manager.

The quickest distance between two points is always a straight line. A first-round pick of Porter Jr. might have been most direct. But sometimes a circuitous route is more scenic.

My bet is that’s the way things will turn out for Porter Jr. with the Steelers.