Trading away a homegrown talent and legacy player like former Pittsburgh Steelers
cornerback Joey Porter Jr. sent shockwaves through the Steel City earlier this season. With Porter now lining up for the Dallas Cowboys after a summer contract dispute and placement on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, questions lingered over whether the Steelers made a catastrophic error by moving off their starting defensive back.Speaking on “The Snap Count,” two-time Super Bowl champions and co-hosts Charlie Batch and Trai Essex welcomed their former teammate Max Starks as they reflected on the initial sting of the deal.
"From a talent standpoint and from a depth standpoint, yes, I absolutely thought we needed him and I thought we fumbled it when we traded
him away," Essex admitted. "But the way they've been playing since then? It's starting to look like they didn't."
Despite losing Porter, Pittsburgh's pass defense has held strong, ranking inside the top 15 in the NFL behind steady contributions from Jamel Dean and Daylen Everette. Starks pointed out that head coach Mike McCarthy’s scheme heavily relies on match-zone concepts rather than pure press-man isolation, minimizing the vacuum left by Porter's departure.
Starks noted that it is easy to look at the current roster and wish they had a true press corner, noting that Asante Samuel Jr. is not that type of player.
"Right now they I feel like they've adapted very well. But yes, would you like a lock down corner? Absolutely. Everybody wants a lock down corner, but I think they're making the best out of the situation. So it's a halfway fumble, but they recover," Starks joked. "Like, I stumbled, but I didn't fall over."
Batch, who's long been known as a leader within the NFLPA, offered unique insight, providing a broader front-office perspective and highlighting how contract negotiations and team culture dictated the move.
"Nobody's questioning whether JPJ could play. It just contractually just didn't work out," Batch noted. " I think right now the early results is, they don't miss him as much as people anticipated him being missed in this manner. I think the bigger question for me, is this was a way for Mike McCarthy to set the tone of what he's looking for cultural-wise on this team."
Batch believes that McCarthy used the Porter situation to put the rest of the team “on notice” that he won’t go through this again with another player. He also noted that the front office still has to answer for the mistake of placing him on the PUP list.
However, seeing Porter excel in Dallas still stings some fans; the secondary's adaptability has allowed Pittsburgh to recover smoothly from its own fumble.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Evaluating the Joey Porter Jr. trade and Steelers secondary depth
