Just moments after the pick was announced, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin was at the podium talking about the choice of Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. Austin made it a point to note that the expectation is Porter will come in and help the Steelers win this season.
“There’s no redshirts, nothing like that,” Austin said, indicating they plan to get Porter on the field as a rookie and help the team. What will this look like? It’s hard to say but we can speculate it might mean Austin and the coaches will experiment with cornerback Levi Wallace in the slot and might try veteran Patrick Peterson at some safety with Porter on the boundary on his side.
Either way, it sounds like the coaches have a plan to get Porter on the field and it will be trial by fire for the rookie in an AFC absolutely loaded with wide receivers.
