Joe Starkey: Steelers secondary at least as concerning as receiver position

PITTSBURGH — Through two NFL seasons, Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. has accumulated 18 penalties and two interceptions.

That is not an entirely fair summary of his contributions, of course, but it serves as an entrance point to a critical topic: For all the fretting over the wide receiver position these past 12 months, it seems we sometimes overlook the secondary.

It has been and continues to be a major concern.

You have a regressing second-round pick in Porter at one corner and a 34-year-old (Darius Slay) coming off a zero-interception year at the other. The slot position remains uncertain, as does depth everywhere.

Free safety is manned by the once-great Minkah Fitzpatrick, 28 going on 34. He used to be a turnover-causing machine but now creates one roughly once per lunar eclipse. His newly re-signed safety partner, DeShon Elliott, crushes people but has issues in coverage.

Their backup, Juan Thornhill, seems to be plagued by chronic calf injuries.

This is what Browns GM Andrew Berry said upon releasing Thornhill before the final year of his three-year deal: "Thought he played well when he was on the field, but the big thing was just availability. A guy that had been pretty durable during his time in Kansas City but just had a really tough time with the calf injuries throughout his time with us."

That sounds encouraging.

General manager Omar Khan hasn't exactly been scoring A's on his cornerback report card. His big moves at the position — and it's never certain whether he or Mike Tomlin is the prime mover on a given deal — have included signing a broken-down Patrick Peterson, signing a broken-down Cam Sutton, trading for a soon-to-be-beaten-down Donte Jackson, signing the 34-year-old Slay and drafting Porter with the 32nd pick in 2023.

Sutton was wretched in his one season in Detroit and had some major off-field issues. The Steelers thought they could revive him, stubbornly kept playing him when Beanie Bishop was the better option, then cut ties with Sutton. Very strange.

Porter was not the same player in Year 2 — and he needed to make a jump. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed a passer rating of 115.6 and ranked 150th among NFL corners with a 55.6 coverage grade. But statistics be darned, anybody could see that Porter was struggling, amid some good moments, and committing way too many penalties. He has led the team in penalties in each of his first two seasons, including 10 last season.

Porter's ability to bounce back this season is a top three Steelers issue — right up there with quarterback and the other guy the Steelers drafted highly in 2023, left tackle Broderick Jones.

Will Porter be the guy Tomlin thought he was getting with what was essentially a first-round pick, or will he be yet another Steelers misevaluation at the cornerback position?

Slay can still play, but how much and how effectively? The world is not filled with 34-year-old corners playing 10 high-level games, let alone 17-plus. PFF gave Slay a good coverage grade, but it came with a few caveats.

One, he failed to record an interception for the first time since his rookie season.

Two, well, I'll let the site speak for itself: "A lot was made of the 33-year-old Slay's decline last season, and while he did lead the league in tight coverage percentage, he also only recorded a 63.5 PFF grade on such targets, which ties for the second-worst amongst the 62 qualifying corners with at least 50 tight-coverage designations. This can be attributed in large part due to the fact that Slay was one of the lower volumes on these types of coverages (60) while also letting up 10 contested targets, which tied for ninth-most."

Minkah has sacrificed his body to the cause and simply appears to have lost a step. He's still good. He's not great. Perhaps he will be again, but that's not usually how it works.

The better quarterbacks on the Steelers schedule last season mostly thrived.

Lamar Jackson, after a rough first game, had passer ratings of 115.4 and 132.1 against the Steelers. Their jinx on him has disappeared. Patrick Mahomes had his highest passer rating of the season (127.1) at Acrisure Stadium. Justin Herbert was at 105.1 before he left injured. Dak Prescott took the Cowboys on touchdown drives of 70 and 90 yards in the fourth quarter. Jalen Hurts had a 125.3 passer rating. Joe Burrow went for 112.7 at home before the Steelers contained him pretty well in the rematch. They stifled Jayden Daniels.

Then there were the communication issues. Despite deploying a mostly experienced group, the secondary crumbled during the season-ending, five-game losing streak. That likely contributed to not renewing the contract of secondary coach Grady Brown.

This was Elliott after Mahomes tore through them: "First off, guys can't be [freaking] wide open. That's the first thing. Just do your job. I felt like we communicated, but guys just weren't doing their freaking job. It's Week 18. We shouldn't be having these problems in Week 18. This is a Week 1 or Week 2 problem. I don't know when we went down the line and became a whole different defense than what we had been, but we have to get back to who we are."

Who are they, exactly?

The answer to that question will go a long way toward defining the 2025 season.

____