One of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ bigger moves in free agency this offseason was the signing of cornerback Darius Slay. Despite prepping for his 13th NFL season, it is clear that Slay can still play. The goal of today’s article is to see some statistical areas where Slay was superior last season, and perhaps what he could mentor the room and the young Joey Porter Jr. in.
Being a disruptive coverage corner is ideal, and Slay was one of the top men at the position last season. Part of that picture is forced incompletions and pass breakups, and I will highlight Slay and Porter for our purposes:
Slay was clearly the most disruptive corner in these terms, with 17 forced incompletions and 16 pass breakups. Each ranked first, and were two more than any other player at the position. Quite an impressive feat for the veteran, and a skillset that Pittsburgh has to be thrilled that they acquired.
In comparison, Porter lands below the mean with eight forced incompletions (T-23rd) and five pass breakups (T-31st). That was out of 47 qualifiers with a minimum of 500 coverage snaps, weaning out the wonder of this being an opportunity issue.
Porter has shown potential to be a lockdown corner, but his aggression led to a league-most 17 penalties in 2024. It’s better to say whoa than sick ‘em, and Slay appears to be an ideal mentor on paper in hopes of aiding Porter’s hopeful improvement in this area and more.
In turn, I like the chances that would improve Porter’s coverage disruption on a similar chart in 2025.
One more visual to emphasize Slay’s hopeful impact in 2025. Here are PFF coverage grades and catch rates allowed:
Once again, Slay lands comfortably above the mean in each. His 75.5 coverage grade ranked 12th in 2024, with an even stronger 51.7 catch rate allowed that was third-best. The latter emphasizes that despite his age, even when Slay didn’t get his hands on the ball, he was one of the best corners at shutting down the opposition last season.
This was on Philadelphia’s Super Bowl run, mind you, and obviously an integral part of that accomplishment. Overall, the Slay addition seems undervalued by the fan base, and the Steelers are banking on him defeating Father Time for at least one more season.
On the other side of the coin is Porter, below average in each once again. A 56.3 coverage grade ranked 38th (tenth-worst) and was nearly 20 points lower than Slay’s. Porter’s catch rate allowed was 67.1, landing at 32nd, also substantially lower than his new mentor.
Considering all the important elements of coverage these stats factor in, I like the chances of Slay being a plus player and mentor for Porter (and others) in Pittsburgh. Add in that Slay seemed to play that role admirably for a secondary with a lot of youth last season on a championship Eagles squad, and it’s hard not to be encouraged.
