The Pittsburgh Steelers don't miss Joey Porter Jr... not yet, anyway. While it hasn't always been smooth sailing in the secondary early in the 2026 season, since Porter was officially sent packing to the Dallas Cowboys, something clicked.
The Porter trade was reported on Wednesday, September 30, and officially processed on October 1—just hours before the Steelers' Thursday Night Football game against the Cleveland Browns. That's when things started to change.
Though Patrick Graham's defense has struggled at safety and linebacker over the past three weeks—and getting consistent pressure has been a problem—their cornerbacks have not. In fact, since the Porter trade, the Steelers' top three CBs have posted remarkable coverage numbers on paper.
The Pittsburgh Steelers' cornerback trio has been rock-solid since the Joey Porter Jr. trade
The Jamel Dean signing has been a slam dunk so far for Pittsburgh. Though Dean missed Week 5 against the Colts with an ankle injury, he was spectacular in his revenge game against his former team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in Week 6.
Meanwhile, since getting picked on in Week 3 against Bengals receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, Asante Samuel Jr. has allowed just nine receptions on 20 targets in pass coverage, per advanced Pro Football Focus data [$]. Similarly, rookie Daylen Everette has surrendered just nine receptions on 18 targets over the past three weeks since the Porter trade.
Steelers cornerback coverage stats from Weeks 4-6:
Player | Targets | Catches | Yards | TDs | INTs | PR allowed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jamel Dean | 13 | 5 | 55 | 0 | 1 | 19.7 |
Asante Samuel Jr. | 20 | 9 | 106 | 1 | 0 | 78.3 |
Daylen Everette | 18 | 9 | 104 | 0 | 1 | 29.4 |
Combined | 51 | 23 | 265 | 1 | 2 | 47.9 |
There's no question that Dean has been the best of the group. But over the past three weeks, there has not been one Steelers cornerback who has been picked on by opposing QBs.
During this span, Dean, Everette, and Samuel have combined to allow just 23 receptions on 51 targets for 265 yards, with one touchdown surrendered and two interceptions recorded. This equates to just 5.2 yards allowed per target and a spectacular 47.9 passer rating given up to opposing quarterbacks.
Of course, we need to add some context here.
Since the Porter trade, the Steelers haven't exactly faced the stiffest quarterback competition. In these three games, the secondary got to square up against Deshaun Watson, Daniel Jones, and Jalon Daniels. Not exactly the cream of the crop.
The Steelers will miss Joey Porter Jr. at some point, but they don't right now
Just because the Steelers don't miss Porter right now doesn't mean that they won't at points this season.
Most of Pittsburgh's easiest quarterback competition is out of the way. The rest of the way, they will have to face Lamar Jackson twice (assuming he's healthy), Joe Burrow once more, and Trevor Lawrence. Even QBs like C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young could wind up giving them trouble.
In the Steelers' first game against Joe Burrow, the Bengals' star quarterback completed 28 of 37 passes for 282 yards and three interceptions, to go with a 123.9 passer rating and a spectacular 93.7 QBR. In this game, Samuel was benched in the second half for Everette after doing nothing to slow down Chase and Higgins.
These are the moments that Steelers fans will be wishing they had Porter back. But it's also possible that this unit can improve from here.
While Dean is now 30 and Samuel is who he is at this stage of his career, the veterans could get more acclimated to Patrick Graham's defense and ramp it up from here. And it only stands to reason that the 22-year-old Everette will get better with experience.
It's entirely possible that the Steelers wind up regretting the Joey Porter Jr. trade still, if things go south and they can't cover wide receivers when it matters most. But right now, how can the Steelers miss Joey Porter Jr. when their top three cornerbacks have been doing everything we could have hoped to see from them since the trade?
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