2023 will be a good year for NFL teams needing cornerback talent in the draft. In Touchdown Wire’s latest mock draft, we had five cornerbacks going in the first round. The placement of those players — Georgia’s Kelee Ringo, Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr., Utah’s Clark Phillips III, South Carolina’s Cam Smith, and Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez — depends on NFL team preferences, but there’s a lot of talent at the position, and players who should be able to help their NFL teams right away.
There are other cornerbacks who will be taken in the later rounds, but as it stands right now, it’s quite possible that of all the prospects at the position in this group, Porter — the son of the former Pittsburgh Steelers, Miami Dolphins, and Arizona Cardinals linebacker, as well as the Steelers’ former defensive assistant and outside linebackers coach — is the best of them all.
Why? Because when it comes to defending modern offenses, your cornerbacks must be aggressive enough to disrupt the timing and route correctness of receivers in quick game, agile enough to defend option routes and multiple concepts outside and in the slot, and versatile enough to play well in any sort of scheme. Porter Jr. checks all the boxes.
This week, the junior made his intentions for the 2023 draft official.
Thank You Penn State đź’™ pic.twitter.com/0Yxx8hE7s2
— Joey Porter Jr. (@jjporter_1) November 30, 2022
This after a 2022 season in which, per Pro Football Focus, he allowed 15 catches on 30 targets for 143 yards, 51 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, no interceptions, nine pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 63.6. When we get into his tape, we’ll tell you why Porter’s metrics should be even better than that. At 6-foot-2 and 198 pounds, Porter possesses the combination of size, speed, agility, and coverage awareness in multiple schemes that should see his name called in the first 10 picks of next year’s draft.