Two Steelers Rookies Earn Exciting Praise from PFF

Pro Football Focus has remained high on the Steelers 2023 rookie class, and they reinforced that on Thursday. Through five weeks, PFF released their top fifteen highest-graded rookies in the NFL; Pittsburgh has two players among those fifteen. Those players are Joey Porter Jr., ranked at five, and Keeanu Benton, ranked at ten.

This is the second time Porter has earned praise from the outlet this week after receiving the highest grade among all cornerbacks in Week 5. Playing a career-high 28 snaps against the Ravens, Porter figures to see that go up even more coming out of the bye week when they face the Rams with guys like Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. He boasts an 81.9 grade for the season, the highest among all rookie cornerbacks.

“Porter may have been limited over the first month of the season, but that all changed this past week, and he did not disappoint. The Penn State standout had a phenomenal day in coverage, earning a 91.4 grade — the week’s highest grade at the position — finishing with an interception on his only target in coverage,” PFF wrote.

As for Benton’s run defense, he has earned high marks, but the pass rush part of his game has continuously popped after not showing much in that aspect through college due to his specific role in the Wisconsin scheme. Benton has popped all over the tape. If not for Jalen Carter’s white-hot start, he would be the highest-graded rookie defensive tackle.

“Through five games, Benton has proven to be a quality run defender on the interior, earning a 72.0-plus run-defense grade in three of his five contests. He had one of his best days in that regard in Week 5, earning a positive grade on over 23% of his run-defense snaps without a single negative grade,” PFF wrote.

To say the least, Omar Khan’s first draft class as general manager has promising returns. Broderick Jones played a fantastic game in his first start, while Darnell Washington and Nick Herbig also give the team plenty of contributions in their snaps. So far, it’s looking like a draft that has the potential to help reshape the group’s young core over the next several years.