Halicke: Porter's rookie season sets the bar high in Year 2

Which Year 2 player needs to make the biggest jump in 2024?

There's an argument to be made for a few different players. Broderick Jones solidifying himself as a franchise left tackle would be huge, not to mention also cost effective. Keeanu Benton might have the strongest case as Cam Heyward's future with in Pittsburgh is uncertain beyond 2024.

One player who's not getting talked about that often? Joey Porter Jr.

Of course, there are some that could think Porter needs to make a big jump. There's no doubt that Porter's not a finished product. There's always room to grow.

But with what Porter accomplished as a rookie, it's almost a foregone conclusion that the Steelers already have their shutdown cornerback. Even Porter named himself as the fifth-best cornerback in the league:

Sauce Gardner might want a word, and rightfully so. But, Porter's claim isn't all that farfetched.

Coming out of college, Porter's two greatest traits were his physicality in press coverage and superb length. Like his father was during his NFL career, Porter is a very physical and very aggressive player, which is great for a press coverage cornerback. And with 34-inch arms -- a great length for an offensive lineman, much less a cornerback -- and 6-foot-2 frame, he has extremely rare length that allows him to make up for lost room when the receiver he's covering gets a little separation.

At the same time, Porter had a few issues that were a concern to teams, but two may help explain why he fell completely out of the first round of the draft. First, with the aggressiveness and physicality came penalties. Porter was too "handsy" or "grabby" in college, and was penalized 10 times during his final season at Penn State. That carried over into his rookie campaign, drawing 12 penalties.

Also, Porter's tackling was a major concern, and that was confirmed in the first half of the season. Despite not even being a starter through the team's first six games, Porter missed four of 11 tackle opportunities, a 36.4 missed tackle percentage, according to Pro Football Focus.

However, Porter immediately blossomed in coverage, especially when given opportunities to line up in press coverage. Porter not only knows how to use his length to his advantage, but is smart and patient in press coverage:

Here's a rep against Calvin Ridley, a very shifty receiver. Porter doesn't bite on any jab steps or head fakes, but stays over the top of Ridley all the way. He didn't have to use his physicality or length here. Reps like these are proof of a foundation of smart play in coverage. Porter doesn't exclusively rely on his physicality and length. That's a huge thing to see in a rookie.

But, it's good to see him use his length in ways other than jamming receivers at the line of scrimmage:

Here's a rep against DeAndre Hopkins. Nothing overly physical here. He's even off the ball at the snap. Porter's just running with Hopkins, staying in his hip pocket and forces Will Levis -- who was looking at Hopkins as his first read here -- to hold onto the ball longer than he wanted to, and T.J. Watt ends up with a red zone sack. With Porter's length, Hopkins is covered.

By season's end, Porter played a total of 535 coverage snaps and was targeted only 53 times, which is 10.1 snaps per target. In other words, quarterbacks weren't throwing in his direction, even though Porter earned the right to follow around the opponent's top receiver a vast majority of the time. On those 53 targets, Porter allowed 24 catches, 45.3% of the targets, for 352 yards and one touchdown. And, quarterbacks posted a 65.9 passer rating when targeting Porter. 

Want to understand the significance of these numbers? In Gardner's rookie year -- a year in which Gardner won Defensive Rookie of the Year for three different news outlets, was named first team All-Pro and finished eighth in Defensive Player of the Year voting -- he played 642 coverage snaps and was targeted 73 times (8.8 snaps per target), allowing 33 catches for 361 yards and one touchdown. That's 45.2% of the targets that were caught, an almost identical number to Porter's. Gardner had two interceptions (Porter only had one), which helped Gardner post a ridiculous 53.5 passer rating against when targeted.

Porter's numbers weren't quite as good as Gardner's. The Jets' star cornerback not only had one more interception, he had 14 pass breakups while Porter only had six. But, Porter was very much in the same ballpark as Gardner. And, as for the tackling issues, Porter missed only 5.6% of his tackle opportunities from the time he became a starter in Week 8 through the end of the season.

And, just for the record, Porter's emergence as a legitimate NFL cornerback in his rookie season softens any concern about him taking too many penalties. If he takes away the opposing team's No. 1 receiver week in and week out, any team in the league will take an extra penalty or two. Shutdown cornerbacks don't grow on trees.

All of this being said, everyone would feel much better about Porter being the team's undisputed shutdown cornerback if he has a successful encore in 2024. Even if he plays at the same level, he's already an effective player. But, any growth from what we saw in his rookie season, then Porter has much more firepower for his own argument as a top-five cornerback in the league.