Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. isn’t a perfect player. He’s the team’s clear No. 1 and a good corner though still a little ways away from establishing himself as a premiere corner league-wide. Still, when you look at who the league took instead of Porter in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, they done goofed up. Big time.

Saturday served as a reminder. Porter was the fifth cornerback taken that year. The four ahead of him were Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon selected fifth by Seattle, Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes taken 16th by Washington, Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez 17th via New England, and Maryland’s Deonte Banks 24th with the New York Giants turning the in the card with his name.

Through one-and-a-half of their NFL seasons, Porter looks closer to the top than the bottom of that group. Though these stats can be subjective, here’s the PFR QB rating allowed by each of those corners this year.

Emmanuel Forbes: 64.1 (8 targets)
Christian Gonzalez: 77.3 (65 targets)
Joey Porter Jr.: 82.8 (55 targets)
Devon Witherspoon: 98.8 (57 targets)
Deonte Banks: 137.3 (59 target)

Technically, Forbes leads the group but his sample size is tiny. In fact, he’s objectively the worst of the five on the list knowing his tape and resume. Washington benched him early this season and cut bait with him today, releasing him 18 months after making him the face of their draft class.

Granted, it’s a new regime of head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters so they had less invested in him than others. Still, that’s an ugly look so early into his career. Forbes was an odd choice to begin with, a rail-thin corner at 166 pounds during his Combine weigh-in (and 170 at his Pro Day weeks later).

Banks was been volatile in his short Giants’ career. Shuffled between starting and benched, his effort has been questioned and he doesn’t look like a current or future No. 1 corner. PFF grades him as the No. 110 corner out of 123 qualifiers.

In fairness, and there’s again subjectivity, Porter hasn’t graded out wonderfully. Miles ahead of Forbes and Banks but behind Witherspoon and Gonzalez. Penalties have hurt him and PFF has significant penalties for flags, though Porter’s shown the ability to play clean for long stretches of time. His penalties seem to come in bunches.

From the eye test, Pittsburgh has to be happy with getting him. He’s a true No. 1 corner with the confidence and competency to challenge top receivers. He doesn’t always win, no cornerback does, but he has a short-term memory and eager for the next fight. His zone coverage and tackling have improved since being drafted, too.

The fact the Steelers got him with the 32nd pick, the top selection of the second round that year, is hard to believe. He was a first-round talent who slipped through the cracks and outperformed the team’s actual first round pick, OT Broderick Jones. Despite ample opportunity to trade down as a gaggle of teams wanted to move up for Kentucky QB Will Levis – Tennessee eventually did one pick after Pittsburgh – the Steelers stuck to their board and belief. It’s paid off. At the time, Porter was emotional for slipping out of Day One. Now, I’m sure there’s no regrets (though you better believe he still carries that chip on his shoulder).

It’s still not clear what caused Joey Porter to fall. Perhaps the lack of interceptions hurt him. Or the penalties, an issue he didn’t clean up until his final year of college. Maybe those other teams had scheme concerns. Whatever the reason, the Steelers – and Porter – are happy with how it turned out.