Brock floats a trade target to make Seahawks elite at cornerback

The Seattle Seahawks played well on defense in Week 1, especially in the secondary where they picked off New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye three times in their 13-10 Super Bowl victory.

But as good, or maybe even as great, as the Seahawks played in defending the pass, Seattle Sports’ Brock Huard sees a potential opportunity for the team to make the cornerback position truly elite – with a trade.

“Joey Porter Jr. in Pittsburgh is not a happy camper,” pointed out Huard, a longtime FOX football broadcaster and former NFL quarterback, on Monday’s edition of Brock and Salk.

The 26-year-old Porter was inactive for the Steelers’ season-opening win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday after he was limited in practice leading up to the game with a back issue. But there appears to be more to the story, with Porter and the team reportedly at an impasse on contract extension negotiations.

Gerry Dulac, who covers the Steelers for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and is a host for the Steelers Radio Network, wrote Sunday on social media that the “Steelers are done talking contract (with) Joey Porter Jr. and will not have further discussions about a new deal, per team sources.”

An ESPN article Sunday by NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter noted that Porter previously requested the Steelers to trade him, and that “an early-season trade is possible.”

If the Seahawks wanted to swoop in to acquire Porter, head coach Mike Macdonald’s “Dark Side” defense could become even more dangerous on the back end, where Porter would be paired with fellow star cornerback Devon Witherspoon and versatile standout safety Nick Emmanwori.

Adding Porter would be the type of move that could take the Seahawks’ cornerback position from “good to great to elite,” but Huard did acknowledge it’s “unlikely.” Though Seattle lost starting corner Riq Woolen in free agency this offseason, Nehemiah Pritchett shined in the starting role in the win over the Patriots, and the Seahawks also signed Terrion Arnold and Trevon Diggs last month.

Huard described the latter two as “on the back burner” for Seattle. Diggs, a 27-year-old former two-time Pro Bowler, is currently signed to Seattle’s practice squad. Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Arnold is on the NFL commissioner’s exempt list while he undergoes legal proceedings for eight felony charges in connection to a February robbery and kidnapping in Florida.

If the Seahawks did make a run at acquiring Porter, the toughest competition may be from an NFC rival who cut Arnold after his arrest.

“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.”

Brock Huard answers three football questions at 7:45 a.m. during the Blue 88 segment of Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, which airs live from 6-10 a.m. weekdays.

Seattle Seahawks news and more

• NFC West: What Week 1 told us about Seahawks, Rams and 49ers
• What Bump learned about the Seahawks in Week 1
• Seattle Seahawks Status Report: Dark Side defense delivers

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