Another son of a NFL star comes roaring out of college and likely straight into the first round, will Joey Porter Jr. experience the same success as his father? He will look to replicate it as he enters the 2023 NFL draft.
Here is everything you need to know about the Penn State prodigy:
Vitals
Height: 6-2
Weight: 198
Class: Junior
Strengths
On first glance Joey Porter Jr. looks built to play the cornerback position. He is tall with long arms and a lean but powerful frame. He uses his physical build well at his position and this is bolstered by an elite athletic profile as he is a true speedster able to keep up with any receiver he has come up against and both of these will transition well into the NFL.
In coverage Porter is best suited as a press man corner right away; his ability to stun receivers at the line with his long arms and turn with them upfield glued to them is among the best in the class. He moves in and out of breaks with receivers comfortably and has excellent makeup speed. Should he get lost within the route, Portter is often able to just shadow and overwhelm receivers during the route and that led to multiple dominant stretches for him at Penn State.
Porter is also a willing and able tackler, playing with a tenacity and physicalness that matches his body type. He has no issues going from coverage to running down a running back and laying the wood, nor does he struggle with tackling technique in general. He is pretty lockdown with his long arms that he uses well in both phases.
Weaknesses
While Porter is very good at being a press-man corner there is not a ton of versatility in his game. Asking him to play in the slot would be awkward as he is a bit stiff naturally from his frame and his burst is mostly in his downfield transition, not off the ball in tight spaces. He can play off the ball in man but there is some work that needs to be done in regards to moving in fluid motion or gaining enough burst to adjust to routes coming at him. Coaches should not have a ton of problem getting him up to speed on his off-man coverage, but he will likely never be ideal as a slot corner.
The low number of interceptions is also somewhat of a concern, but part of the problem last season was how little he was targeted. Still over the years one interception is going to be a question mark going into the evaluation process, though on tape it doesn’t appear to be a lack of instincts.
Projection
Joey Porter Jr. has the idea height and speed to fit the modern mold of what a press man corner is. He has a NFL bloodline and has shown tremendous growth while still really only scratching the surface of his elite talent ceiling. Teams will be eager to target him early in the draft and develop him into a corner that can eventually be lockdown corner and shut off half the field with time. He may need a bit of coaching and to make a few more plays on the ball, but that should not impede him from going relatively high as perhaps the top corner off the board.
Projection: Top 15 Pick
