Pittsburgh has made its stance on Joey Porter Jr. pretty plain: if he’s healthy and available, the Steelers expect him on the practice field.
General manager Omar Khan said that will apply not just to Porter Jr., but to any player the team believes can go. Porter Jr. was activated off the PUP list at the roster cutdown deadline, and Khan said the expectation is for him to practice in the coming weeks.
"In the next couple of weeks, not just Joey, but anyone we feel is healthy and available to us, we expect them to practice," Khan said.
Khan also shut the door on the idea that this contract situation will suddenly heat up during the season. Pittsburgh has long avoided negotiating once games begin, and that approach is staying in place here. Even so, Khan made it clear the organization still wants Porter Jr. in black and gold for a long time.
"Joey knows how we feel about him, and I still hope he finishes his career here," Khan said.
Porter Jr. entered the offseason looking like the obvious extension priority for the Steelers among their players in contract years. He still hasn’t landed a new deal, but that doesn’t mean he’s been pushed aside. The hold-up appears tied to a negotiation that has become more complicated than it first looked.
A big piece of that is the cornerback market, which has moved late. Devon Witherspoon signed his four-year, $132 million extension with the Seattle Seahawks on August 15, while Christian Gonzalez still has not reached a deal with the New England Patriots.
That gives Porter Jr. a reason to wait and see how the market settles before putting pen to paper.
At the same time, Pittsburgh seems to have the stronger hand. It’s difficult to picture Porter Jr. actually sitting out into Week 1, and his leverage figures to shrink as the opener gets closer. The Steelers also have the option of using the franchise tag on him next offseason, which adds another layer to these talks.
Head coach Mike McCarthy said on August 24 that there was an "impasse" in negotiations, and there’s been no meaningful update since then.
Still, the clock is the real pressure point here. Once the season starts, talks are expected to stop, and that leaves open the possibility that the Steelers and Porter Jr. can still get something done before then.
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Eli Heidenreich emerged as the rookie who stayed, earning the third running back job and giving Pittsburgh a younger piece to carry into the season. Even after the roster is official, the position still feels unsettled in a way the Steelers will have to manage, especially after a summer in which Nichols looked like he had forced his way into the conversation. [Read more 🡒]