The Pittsburgh Steelers have put themselves in a corner with Joey Porter Jr., and they did it by choice.
Porter and the team still aren’t on the same page on an extension, but Pittsburgh’s long-held rule against negotiating contracts once the regular season starts is turning September 13 into a hard deadline it doesn’t actually need to be. That’s the problem: the Steelers are acting like their own policy has to override common sense.
Pittsburgh recently activated Porter to its 53-man roster after he spent the summer on PUP in what had clearly become a hold-in. The 26-year-old cornerback is now expected to practice and play if healthy.
That should have been the end of the roster-status conversation. Instead, it has become a reason for the Steelers to shut the door on future talks if the sides don’t get a deal done before the Falcons come to Acrisure Stadium.
That’s a self-imposed line in the sand, and it doesn’t help the team.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio called Pittsburgh’s approach a “grossly outdated approach to contracts.” That kind of shot usually invites debate, but in this case it lands.
Teams absolutely can and should set boundaries. Contract talks can become a distraction, and no one needs that hanging over Mike McCarthy’s first season.
But there’s a difference between being disciplined and boxing yourself in.
The Steelers already have a real standoff with Porter. The cornerback market has surged, giving his camp plenty of leverage, and Porter has every reason to push after his best season.
He has established himself as Pittsburgh’s CB1. This isn’t a fringe player trying to squeeze the club before Week 1.
Still, if no agreement is reached before the Falcons game, the Steelers’ rule says negotiations stop. Pittsburgh simply doesn’t talk contracts once the regular season begins.
That means even if Porter plays well in September and later decides the team’s final offer before Week 1 was reasonable, the Steelers would be unwilling to revisit it because the calendar says no.
What does that solve?
Florio wrote that “there aren’t many options, and none of them are good” if Porter won’t play without a deal. The Steelers don’t need to make that situation worse by cutting off every possible path forward.
Pittsburgh doesn’t have to meet Porter’s price, and it doesn’t have to keep negotiating every day. It just needs to stop treating an internal policy like it’s some untouchable football law.
If Omar Khan and Porter’s camp eventually land on a number both sides can live with, the Steelers should sign it and move on. Tradition is a flimsy reason to walk away from a deal that works.
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