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Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (24) celebrates after an interception in the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Buffalo Bills, in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023.
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Steelers PFF grades: Joey Porter Jr.'s debut was encouraging beyond his interception

Gene Puskar/Associated Press

Steelers PFF grades: Joey Porter Jr.'s debut was encouraging beyond his interception

Each week of the preseason, the Post-Gazette will recap the most interesting Steelers player grades released by Pro Football Focus, the scouting website that evaluates players’ performance on every play of every game. You can read more about the methodology here. For context, players are graded on a 0-100 scale.

Joey Porter Jr. (71.1) — The PFF scouts liked more than the rookie’s first interception in his NFL debut Saturday against Buffalo. His coverage grade of 71.3 was the team’s second-best among defensive backs on the strength of just three targets on 17 coverage snaps. He intercepted one and he limited the other two to two receptions for 29 yards. He also did a nice job of tackling the catch, allowing just six yards after the catch total on those two catches allowed. It was a similar effort to what we saw from him frequently at Penn State. Opponents tended not to challenge him too much, as he did a nice job of blanketing opposing receivers. Of course, that limited his opportunities for interceptions and that lack of proven big-play ability was the primary knock on him during the draft process. So it was a good sign that he was able to answer those critics by both sticking to his game during his debut and capitalizing on a bad throw to Matt Barkley. Now, it’s a matter of proving he can provide similar efforts week after week once the regular season begins. If he can, he’ll be the upgrade fans have been hoping for at corner — and possibly a long-term piece of this defense.

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Connor Heyward (79.2) — Through two weeks, he’s the offense’s highest-graded player at 92.0 over 30 snaps. And his numbers are near the top leaguewide, too. His overall grade ranks fourth among receivers, tight ends and running backs, and his passing grade (93.3) ranks second only to Las Vegas tight end Cole Fotheringham (93.6). Not bad for a former seventh-round pick. Of course, it’s important not to get carried away with the data. It’s only 30 snaps, and his counting stats don’t pop off the page. Four receptions on four targets for 46 yards and a touchdown, with an average depth of target (ADOT) of 8.5 yards and a yards per route run average of 2.88. It’s the consistency, though, that’s encouraging. By PFF’s estimation, he’s executing about as well as the Steelers can ask for when he’s in there. And if he can give them 20 great snaps per game come the regular season, he’ll be a nice asset to this offense, one that forces opposing defenses to respect him and draw some coverage off his teammates.

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren (30) throws the ball after scoring a touchdown against Buffalo Bills during an NFL preseason game at the Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023, in the North Shore.
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Broderick Jones (58.0) — He posted a similar grade to his debut last week against Tampa Bay (61.7). However, this effort was a little less encouraging because his game was much more uneven in PFF’s eyes. The good news is his pass-blocking grade was very strong at 76.0. The bad news is his run-blocking grade plainly was not good enough at 46.0. That was significantly worse than what we saw from Dan Moore Jr. (58.8 run-blocking score) and Chuks Okorafor (59.5). Through two weeks, not only does Moore have a better overall score (64.3 to 59.9), but so does seventh-round pick Spencer Anderson by a small margin, with a 60.1 overall grade. So despite the buzz from training camp in Latrobe, Jones has a lot of work to do if he’s going to prove to coach Mike Tomlin that he deserves to start come Week 1 against San Francisco.

Nick Herbig (86.9) and Mark Robinson (87.1) — We try not to be redundant and talk about the same players every week in this space. But these two were too good for a second consecutive week not to mention. Herbig’s overall grade of 90.6 through two weeks ranks second among linebackers and edge rushers leaguewide. His three sacks in that span tie him for the league lead among that cohort. And his five stops — which PFF defines as plays that result in failures for the opposing offense — rank in a tie for 11th. Simply put, there are few guys disrupting more offense than him right now. Robinson, meanwhile, has five stops of his own now after two on Saturday against the Bills. He looked solid in coverage, allowing just two receptions for a total of five yards. And his overall run-defense grade of 66.3 is very solid for a former seventh-round pick. It will be interesting to see if there’s a home for him in the rotation every week, especially considering his overall grade of 66.3 ranks second among middle linebackers behind only Elandon Roberts (81.8). Free agent signings Kwon Alexander (54.1) and Cole Holcomb (31.8) remain well behind despite playing at least 45 snaps each in the two games.

Adam Bittner: abittner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @fugimaster24.

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First Published: August 21, 2023, 4:28 p.m.

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