Pittsburgh Steelers star cornerback struggles with injury

PITTSBURGH– Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. is battling a lingering injury. Porter missed two practices this week due to an unspecified injury, and head coach Mike Tomlin did not comment on his status in his press conference on Thursday.

With the Steelers using all healthy players on Saturday against the Detroit Lions, Porter could miss the team's final preseason game. Promising second-year cornerback Cory Trice confirmed he played with the first-team defense when Porter was out.

If Porter is out for the team's game against the Lions, it's probably nothing to worry about. Porter has been with the team and in the locker room all week and has had no medical devices on his body that would indicate a serious injury. Instead, it's likely a minor injury that the Steelers don't want to turn into a major problem.

This would be a huge opportunity for Trice, who Tomlin says is becoming increasingly confident.

“You know what's most important to him? With every rep, he's getting more confident in his health,” Tomlin said. “When you come off a bad injury like he did, that's part of it too. He's a young guy too, so he's still got some growing stages, so he's got a lot of meat on his bones and he covers a lot of ground, but there's still a lot of work to do.”

The Steelers will choose Porter on Saturday, but if the team wants to see Trice face quality competition, they could opt to test what the up-and-coming cornerback can do in his second year.