With Joey Porter Jr. locked down, the Pittsburgh Steelers eye free agents to create a shutdown secondary.
Joey Porter Jr. has established himself as a promising young cornerback during his three seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Porter easily had his best season in 2025 when he helped the Steelers win the AFC North title. He allowed 10.4 yards per reception, 5.0 yards per target, and opposing quarterbacks to have a 48.5 completion percentage and a 57.2 passer rating.
Pro Football Focus’ grade for Porter was 67.6, the 37th-best mark among the 114 NFL cornerbacks who played enough steps to qualify.
Porter takes criticism for not being a playmaker and has indeed only had one interception in each of his three seasons. However, it’s hard to fault the lack of picks because offenses started avoiding Porter.
Pittsburgh could use a second quality cornerback to force quarterbacks into throwing to both sides of the field. Veteran James Pierre will become a free agent when the new league year begins on Wednesday.
Pierre was outstanding in 2025, when his PFF grade of 88.3 ranked second in the league, behind only the Seattle Seahawks’ Devon Witherspoon (90.1). Yet Pierre started just five games and has just 13 career starts in six seasons with the Steelers.
If Pittsburgh looks for a proven corner, Riq Woolen could be at the top of their list after helping the Seahawks win the Super Bowl last season. Woolen developed a reputation as a splash player during his four seasons with the Seahawks, including six interceptions and being selected to the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2022.
Woolen was graded by PFF as the league’s 61st-best cornerback among the 114 snaps to qualify with a 61.2 grade.
Jaylen Watson came into his own last season, his fourth in the NFL, all with the Kansas City Chiefs. His 74.1 PFF grade placed him 16th amongst corners.
He started all 15 games he was available for after starting just 14 times in his first three seasons. Watson had two tackles and two sacks. He has also been on two Super Bowl-winning teams.
Eric Stokes hasn’t lived up to the billing of being the Green Bay Packers’ first-round draft pick in 2021, mainly because of injuries. After four seasons with the Packers, he joined the Las Vegas Raiders and started all 16 games last year.
That led some NFL talent evaluators to think he could be a late bloomer, and PFF ranked him 18th at his position with a grade of 73.6.
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