Steelers 2-a-days: B.T. Potter was 1 of college’s best kickers; Joey Porter Jr. born to be a Steeler
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Editor’s note: From the end of minicamp through the day the team reports to training camp at Saint Vincent College, the Trib will be running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2023 season. The breakdown will go through the roster in mostly alphabetical order, (at least) two per day, between June 16 and July 26. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.
K B.T. POTTER
Experience: Rookie
Contract status: $751,666 cap hit if he makes the team in 2023
2023 outlook: Potter was one of college football’s most prominent kickers over the past four to five years, making 73 field goals and 234 extra points with 344 touchbacks among 449 kickoffs for Clemson since 2018. He kicked in a national championship game and was regarded with a strong enough leg that he made a 52-yarder in that 2020 title matchup against LSU and also was tasked with handling kickoffs as soon as his true freshman season.
Potter was signed immediately after the draft ended. In light of the fact that happened less than nine months after Chris Boswell was given a then-record contract for an NFL kicker, it would seem Potter has little chance of making the regular-season roster. But that doesn’t mean he can’t impress during camp and the preseason. The Steelers more often than not — regardless of their level of satisfaction with an incumbent specialist — will carry extra kickers, punters and long snappers throughout the preseason.
Boswell, too, is coming off what was easily the second-worst statistical season of his eight with the Steelers. Boswell missed eight of 28 field-goal attempts and had the second-lowest touchback percentage of his career (42%, although that might be more a function of strategy on the Steelers’ part). Boswell also was missed five games because of injury, which perhaps is cause for concern considering he is now 32 years old.
But aside from injury, it would take a catastrophic collapse by Boswell during camp for Potter to have a realistic chance to “win” the job outright. And even if Boswell is bad or injured, the Steelers still might elect to find a veteran. Still, Potter’s college résumé is extensive enough that he deserves a shot and could end up winning an NFL job — be it in Pittsburgh or somewhere else.
“It’s fun to go out by myself and kick — but I never get the rush that you do (in front of others), even in practice. Just coming here (for OTAs), my first time kicking my heart was going a little bit fast — and still does."
There's a new KICKER in town-https://t.co/zxkFarzIAP
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) June 30, 2023
CB JOEY PORTER JR.
Experience: Rookie
Contract status: Remains unsigned
2023 outlook: Porter’s listed birthplace is Bakersfield, Calif. – but he couldn’t be more Pittsburgh. Porter’s father, of course, played for the Steelers over the first six-plus years of Porter’s life, and the younger Porter went to high school in the area (North Catholic and North Allegheny) and went to college at Penn State. When he was announced as the Steelers’ second-round draft pick, Porter made the drive to the Steelers’ facility. It was more than his new workplace — it was where he spent so much time growing up. A friend of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s son, Dino, Porter Jr. was frequently at Steelers practices while in high school when Porter Sr. was a Steelers assistant coach.
But for all the sentimentality, Porter Jr. also fills a need for the Steelers, and him falling to No. 32 overall was an unexpected surprise. Some mock drafts had him going in the top 10, and the league invited Porter to Day 1 of its draft. At 6-foot-2 and 198 pounds, Porter is the kind of long and tall cornerback the Steelers (and the NFL at large) is increasingly gravitating towards.
With the departures of three of their top four cornerbacks from last season, the Steelers have openings for roles in their secondary. Holdover Levi Wallace and veteran signee Patrick Peterson would seem to have playing time locked in, but Porter was getting first-team reps at outside corner during organized team activities and minicamp. While plenty is yet to play out, it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see Porter Jr. in the starting lineup for the Steelers’ regular-season opener Sept. 10.
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