Joey Porter Jr.'s situation with the Pittsburgh Steelers has been eventful recently. The cornerback was listed on Pittsburgh's injury report as a full participant in Monday's and Tuesday's practices, for the first time this season, ahead of Thursday night's game with the Cleveland Browns. The reports were an estimation of Porter's participation because walkthroughs were held with the short game week.
He was listed with a not injury related/conditioning notation. Porter hasn't played so for this season. He spent the entire preseason on the physically unable to perform list with a back ailment while involved in a contract dispute with the Steelers.
Porter, who is in the final year of his four-year rookie contract, is scheduled to make $3.924 million on a $4,922,790 salary cap number this year. Porter's back flared up ahead of Week 2's game against the New England Patriots. He was limited in practice last week as part of an extended "ramp-up" period.
Reading between the lines, Porter's "back issue" and "ramp up" are a byproduct of his contract stalemate. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac revealed last week that a Steelers offer averaging slightly more than $27 million per year was rejected around the same time Porter publicly acknowledged that the well established team precedent against negotiating during the season wouldn't be broken to sign him to a new deal. Porter also said that he would definitely play this season without giving a timeline for his return.
Although the Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 30-27 in Week 3, Porter's absence exposed a vulnerability in Pittsburgh's defense. A struggling Asante Samuel Jr. was replaced at cornerback late in the game for rookie Daylen Everette, a 2026 third-round pick. A majority of NFL teams attempt to preserve contractual precedents at almost all costs.
The concern is making a concession to one player will open the floodgates for other players on the team to expect similar treatment in the future. I didn't consider this type of rigidity to be sound business practices when I was an agent. In actuality, teams should be able to make distinctions based on each player's particular circumstances without jeopardizing the integrity of a policy.
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