NFL Mock Draft: Penn State Football CB Joey Porter Jr. Joins ‘Outstanding’ Secondary

For the third season in a row Penn State Football will likely have at least one player chosen in the first-round of the NFL Draft, as cornerback Joey Porter Jr. rises up boards around the league.

Some top analysts have Porter Jr. projected to be a top-10 selection in April’s draft, following a dynamic 2022 campaign as one of the Nittany Lions‘ most consistently dominant defenders.

NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah tabs Porter Jr. as the Houston Texans’ selection with the No. 12 overall pick, in his debut mock draft of 2023:

Porter Jr. has rare length and would pair with last year’s first-round pick, Derek Stingley Jr. (No. 3 overall), to give the Texans an outstanding CB duo.

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At 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds, Porter Jr. has the size and length that NFL defensive coordinators covet at the cornerback position. Perhaps more importantly, Porter Jr.’s length flashes on film from a ball-skills perspective.

“He’s long, he’s fast, he’s athletic, he has everything you want,” an NFL scouting director recently told Heavy Sports’ Matt Lombardo. “He has to find some way to continuously play with the right technique, because he gets beat from time to time, because of it.”

Last season, Porter Jr. finished with 27 total tackles, 8 pass breakups, and 1 fumble recovery.

The Bakersfield, Calif. native and son of Pittsburgh Steelers legend Joey Porter is likely to be one of the first defenders to hear his name called on draft night this spring.