New Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. will wear No. 24 in honor of former Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor, Taylor said on the Minus Three Podcast with Dave Dameshek on Tuesday.
Taylor played with Porter’s father with the Steelers from 2003-2006, winning Super Bowl XL together. Taylor said the elder Porter let him know about the honor.
“Peezy, Joey Porter Sr., was like, ‘He’s going to wear that 2-4 in honor of Uncle Ike,’” Taylor said. “I was like, ‘Oh, hell yeah. When I saw that this morning in the group text, I was like, that’s pretty damn cool.”
Taylor said that he sees a little bit of himself in the young Porter.
“When you pop in the tape, he’s got a lot of similarities to Ike,” Taylor said. “Nephew was raised in the locker room, saw the Super Bowl, saw the confetti.”
Taylor played for the Steelers from 2003-14, winning two Super Bowls in his time with the team. He is now a member of the Steelers’ scouting department, in addition to his media work.
He said he was impressed by the way Omar Khan navigated his first NFL Draft as the team’s general manager and feels like the Steelers got good value, especially for Porter, who he said should have been a first-round pick.
“We did a pretty good in the draft.”
Porter is the second of the Steelers’ 2023 NFL draft picks to have his jersey number revealed. First-round offensive tackle Broderick Jones will wear No. 77 as a tribute to his fallen Georgia teammate, Devin Willock.
Running back Benny Snell Jr. wore No. 24 from 2019-22. He is an unrestricted free agent and has not been re-signed by the team for 2023.