Rumors proceed to hyperlink Joey Porter Jr. of the Pittsburgh Steelers with nearly any team in want of a cornerback amid a contract standoff that seemingly has no finish in sight.
For a chunk revealed on Wednesday, Alan Saunders of Steelers Now defined why the 2 sides have not come to an settlement heading into Week 2 of the 2026 season.
Assured cash is what’s preserving Steelers, Joey Porter Jr. aside
“The Steelers and Porter reached an deadlock over the assured cash in his contract, a number of sources have repeatedly informed Steelers Now,” Saunders wrote. “There was an inaccurate report on the market earlier this week that in contrast the assured cash within the contract the Steelers provided Porter to these of Christian Gonzalez and Devon Witherspoon. The present NFL report for many absolutely assured cash given to a cornerback was to Witherspoon, who bought $59M on a four-year deal from the Seattle Seahawks. Gonzalez, in full ensures, bought $53.9M from the Patriots. They each eclipsed the mark of Trent McDuffie, who earlier this season bought $50M from the Los Angeles Rams.”
In line with Saunders, “one well-placed supply” mentioned that the Steelers’ “supply to Porter would have put him in that $40M assured membership.”
A earlier report mentioned that Porter felt a suggestion offered to him two weeks earlier than the beginning of the season was “insulting.” Assuming the Steelers stick to their coverage of not negotiating with a participant after the beginning of an everyday season, he could should demand a commerce to obtain his desired extension earlier than he subsequent takes the sector.
For the reason that evening of Sept. 13, quite a few golf equipment have been mentioned as potential touchdown spots for Porter. Nevertheless, Saunders mentioned that “the Steelers don’t wish to commerce Porter and are usually not buying him to groups.”
How the Steelers-Joey Porter Jr. state of affairs might get ugly
Porter did not play in Pittsburgh’s 20-13 Week 1 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 13 as a result of he reportedly was coping with setbacks associated to the alleged again damage that saved him on the bodily unable to carry out record for a lot of August. His standing for this coming Sunday’s sport on the 0-1 New England Patriots remained unclear as of Thursday morning.
Throughout a Wednesday look on Pittsburgh sports activities radio station 93.7 The Fan, NFL insider Aditi Kinkhabwala of CBS Sports activities instructed that the Steelers ought to not tolerate Porter being a restricted participant in practices resulting from “conditioning.”
“At that time, is that this slightly spineless? Like, medically clear him and superb him,” Kinkhabwala mentioned about Pittsburgh’s dealing with of the Porter state of affairs, per Matthew Marczi of Steelers Depot. “If it is not the again anymore, then wasn’t it incumbent upon him to be conditioned?”
In fact, the Steelers taking place such a highway might trigger further Porter-related complications. Then once more, maybe Pittsburgh will shock members of the soccer group and signal Porter to an extension earlier than the upcoming weekend will get underway.
