With the 2025 regular season in the books, NFL awards are beginning to unfold. While the Pittsburgh Steelers didn't have many players who warranted All-Pro consideration this year, one underrated (and often criticized) defender just made a prestigious list.
On Thursday, PFSN announced its 2025 First-Team All-Pro selections. On the defensive side of the ball, Joey Porter Jr. was one of three cornerbacks named to the First-Team All-Pro defense. Porter joins Eagles' Quinyon Mitchell and Bengals' DJ Turner II.
Porter, a third-year cornerback and 32nd overall pick from the 2023 NFL Draft, found a way to bounce back from a sophomore slump in 2024. Though he's often been quiet, we can chalk this up as a good thing.
Porter has not allowed a touchdown on his last 1,011 coverage snaps, dating back to last season, while routinely shutting down the opposing team's best wide receivers. Porter was the highest-graded cornerback in the NFL this past season, according to PFSN's CB impact metric. His 95.3 overall grade was five points higher than the next-best CB in 2025.
This aligns closely with data from Pro Football Focus. Though PFF only gave Porter a 67.6 grade on the season, they credited the young cornerback for allowing just 29 receptions on 60 targets for 299 yards while recording an interception and 11 pass breakups. This equates to just a 48.3 passer rating allowed on the year.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the few shutdown CBs in the NFL with Joey Porter Jr.
In today's game, where most rules favor the offense, it's extremely hard to find cornerbacks who can lock down the opposing team's best receivers. Most bump-and-run, press-man coverage has gone by the wayside. But Porter is one of the few cornerbacks in the NFL capable of winning this way.
While penalties have been an issue in the past, Porter did a great job refining his game and limiting his grabiness this season. Though this still led to nine total penalties called on the 25-year-old CB in 2025, just three of these calls came over the final nine games of the season (and one of the three was declined).
The biggest issue with Porter might always be his lack of ball production. Porter isn't known for his hands, and dropped interceptions have been an issue in the past. This is something that former Steelers CB Ike Taylor—who spent 12 years with the team beginning in 2003—was criticised for throughout his career.
Still, Taylor showed that you can still be an exceptional cover corner without taking the ball away 4-5 times per season, and Joey Porter Jr. is on track to do the same. Now the young CB is finally getting the recognition he's earned, thanks to a phenomenal 2025 season.