{"id":260072,"date":"2025-08-04T03:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T03:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/260072\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T03:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T03:04:10","slug":"steelers-three-headed-monster-at-cb-serving-as-motivation-for-dk-metcalf-says-cam-heyward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/260072\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers’ ‘Three-Headed Monster’ At CB Serving As Motivation For DK Metcalf, Says Cam Heyward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 cornerbacks had a middling season. Joey Porter Jr. was fine, but he didn\u2019t take the leap that some people expected him to. Meanwhile, Donte Jackson, Cory Trice Jr., and Beanie Bishop Jr. had their ups and downs. As a result, the Steelers addressed that position heavily this offseason.<\/a> They signed Darius Slay and traded for Jalen Ramsey, two former All-Pros. That\u2019s allowed DK Metcalf, their new wide receiver, to face some interesting matchups in practice. Cam Heyward is using that as a way to motivate Metcalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn defense, we\u2019ve got a three-headed monster between [Porter], Jalen, and Slay,\u201d Heyward said Sunday via NFL Network\u2019s Inside Training Camp Live.<\/a> \u201cI love how they\u2019re bringing over a culture and a legacy there to teach Joey what he\u2019s getting into. But on the other side, I like to mess with DK. I get him started before every practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talk about, \u2018They\u2019re not just gonna clamp you, they\u2019re gonna put you in a rollercoaster and pinch down.\u2019 So, DK wants to go out and expose everybody because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metcalf is one of the most unique receivers in the NFL. His combination of size and athleticism is rare, making him a matchup nightmare for any defense. However, the Steelers\u2019 trio of corners could challenge him.<\/p>\n

For years, when they were rivals in the NFC West, Ramsey and Metcalf had some physical battles.<\/a> They usually resulted in some quieter performances from Metcalf He and Slay have gone back and forth over the years, too. Both those veteran corners have experience frustrating Metcalf, which probably helps Heyward\u2019s instigating.<\/p>\n

Porter has less history with Metcalf, but that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s less of a threat. While he hasn\u2019t accomplished as much as Ramsey or Slay, he\u2019s an up and comer. Porter has great size and length for his position, which should help him against bigger receivers like Metcalf. He didn\u2019t inherit his father\u2019s gift for trash talk, but he still plays with physicality.<\/p>\n

Those matchups might be the best example of iron sharpens iron for the Steelers this year. All of them are quality NFL players with rare gifts, but they\u2019re also teammates now. If Metcalf can succeed against that secondary, then he shouldn\u2019t have too many problems against opposing ones. Similarly, facing Metcalf should provide the Steelers\u2019 corners with valuable experience.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 cornerbacks had a middling season. Joey Porter Jr. was fine, but he didn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[4034,9313,2870,7,1815,7582,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-260072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-cameron-heyward","9":"tag-darius-slay","10":"tag-dk-metcalf","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-jalen-ramsey","13":"tag-joey-porter-jr","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-pittsburgh","16":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","17":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","18":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114968282003404955","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}