The Seahawks’ defense made a loud opening statement in Week 1, and the secondary was right in the middle of it. Seattle picked off New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye three times in its 13-10 Super Bowl victory, a performance that hinted the back end might already be a strength.
Still, Brock Huard thinks there may be a way to push that unit into another tier entirely.
On Monday’s edition of Brock and Salk, the longtime FOX football broadcaster and former NFL quarterback pointed to a cornerback who could be available: Joey Porter Jr. in Pittsburgh.
“Joey Porter Jr. in Pittsburgh is not a happy camper,” Huard said.
Porter was inactive for the Steelers’ season-opening win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday after he was limited in practice during the week with a back issue. But the situation appears to run deeper than that. Reports have tied the 26-year-old to a contract standoff with the Steelers, and ESPN’s Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter wrote Sunday that Porter had previously asked Pittsburgh to trade him and that “an early-season trade is possible.”
Gerry Dulac, who covers the Steelers for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and hosts on the Steelers Radio Network, posted Sunday that the “Steelers are done talking contract (with) Joey Porter Jr. and will not have further discussions about a new deal, per team sources.”
If Seattle wanted to jump into that mix, Porter would give Mike Macdonald’s “Dark Side” defense another elite piece on the back end. He’d fit alongside Devon Witherspoon and versatile safety Nick Emmanwori, giving the Seahawks a corner group that could go from “good to great to elite,” as Huard put it.
Huard did note that such a move is “unlikely.” Seattle lost starting corner Riq Woolen in free agency this offseason, but Nehemiah Pritchett impressed in the starting role against the Patriots, and the team also added Terrion Arnold and Trevon Diggs last month.
Huard called those two “on the back burner” for Seattle. Diggs, a 27-year-old former two-time Pro Bowler, is on the practice squad. Arnold, 23, is on the NFL commissioner’s exempt list while he goes through legal proceedings tied to eight felony charges in connection with a February robbery and kidnapping in Florida.
If Porter does move, Huard thinks the most obvious destination may be an NFC team - and one in particular.
“All the speculation is Detroit,” Huard said. “Detroit makes way more sense.
They cut Terrion Arnold. I think they’ve got like $50 million in cap space and yada, yada, yada.
And again, an NFC team, and maybe he ends up going there.”
Huard makes his football picks and answers three questions at 7:45 a.m. in the Blue 88 segment on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, which airs live from 6-10 a.m. on weekdays.
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