By Charlie Campbell
Weaknesses:
Summary: As the son of a NFL legend, there were big expectations for Joey Porter Jr. at Penn State, and he lived up to them. He rotated in as freshman in 2020 and had a quality debut. Porter has excellent size, and the upside to become an impactful player. In 2021, Porter collected 51 tackles, one interception, four passes broken up and one forced fumble. Overall, Porter was steady coverage in 2022 while recording 27 tackles, seven passes broken up but zero interceptions.
For pass coverage, Porter is the prototypical press-man corner. He is tall with crazy arm length that is even greater than other big cornerbacks. His arms give him a massive amount of reach, wingspan, and coverage area that make it very hard to get passes by him. Porter’s length is a rare commodity and gives him a natural advantage. Hhis excellent height and length allow him to cover big receivers to prevent a size mismatch. Porter also can really run and is surprisinglt fast for a big cornerback. He has the speed to run downfield and does not let receivers get over the top on him.
While Porter is big, he moves well for his size. Porter is a solid corner who is assignment sound, but he is not a big playmaker. He lacks playmaking ability and is not a sources for big plays. For the NFL, team sources say that Porter must be a press-man corner. He is not a great fit to play off-man or zone corner and also is not an option to move inside to the slot. Given Porter’s body type, that is understandable.
Some team sources say they have Porter as a mid- to late first-rounder for the 2023 NFL Draft. There is media hype of him being a top-10 pick, and he has a NFL pedigree that will help hype him up in the leadup to the 2023 NFL Draft. Hence, Porter looks safe to go on the opening night of the draft, but he may not go high.
Player Comparison: Dre Kirkpatrick. Porter reminds me of Kirkpatrick. They are identical in size, with Kirkpatrick (6-2, 190) having an excellent skill set of height, length and athleticism. Kirkpatrick was a solid cover corner for the Bengals during a 10-year career, but similar to Porter, Kirkpatrick was never a huge sources for big plays. In the NFL, Porter could end up being a good cover corner like Kirkpatrick, but not a game changer.
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2023 NFL Mock Draft: Charlie’s | Walt’s
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