Joey Porter Jr. Waited While His Draft Class Got Paid

Joey Porter Jr. practiced Tuesday for the first time since his PUP activation and would not promise to play without a new Steelers contract. He is the last unsigned player from a 2023 draft class Pittsburgh has already paid $214 million to keep.

Will Joey Porter Jr. Play Week 1 Without a Deal?

Asked if he would play without an extension, Porter shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “I got to talk to the guys upstairs and my agents about that.” Minutes earlier, asked if he would play if healthy, he said “Yeah, for sure,” then paused and added “maybe.”

I don’t know. I got to talk to the guys upstairs and my agents about that.

Joey Porter Jr., Steelers cornerback, after Tuesday’s practice

He was asked some version of the Week 1 question three times. The answers moved from “for sure, maybe” to a refusal to talk about the future, then to the shrug. Coach Mike McCarthy had said before practice that Porter would ramp up after a camp spent on the physically unable to perform list. Porter would not guess whether that ramp reaches the Atlanta Falcons.

“Really can’t speak too much about the future,” he said. “But today I was out there today running with the guys, still trying to get back fully, but we’re going to take it day by day for the most part. And that’s the same page me and Coach have been on so far.”

General manager Omar Khan said Monday the club will not negotiate once the regular season starts, the same in-season freeze Pittsburgh has used for years. That turns the home opener into a hard stop. Khan also said he still hopes Porter finishes his career here, and that Porter knows how the building feels about him. McCarthy had already called the talks an impasse in late August.

Three 2023 Teammates Already Got Paid

Porter was the 32nd pick in 2023, the first selection of the second round after Miami forfeited a first-round choice. Outside linebacker Nick Herbig went in the fourth round, 132nd overall. Defensive lineman Keeanu Benton went 49th. Tight end Darnell Washington went in the third. The three who were drafted after Porter all signed second contracts this offseason. He did not.

WHAT THE 2023 CLASS ALREADY GOT

Herbig’s extension, signed in early June, carries $42 million in guarantees and $21 million fully guaranteed, with a 2026 cap number of $5,427,431. He said he wanted to be a Steeler for life during that stretch; the $100 million paperwork followed in the same week. Washington’s deal includes $21 million guaranteed after a 2025 season of 31 catches for 364 yards. Benton signed a four-year, $72 million extension in mid-August, with $14 million fully guaranteed and $25.7 million guaranteed overall, after 17 starts, 51 tackles, and 5.5 sacks in 2025.

Porter’s public line on all three was warm. “I was really just happy that they got theirs done,” he said. “I came in with those guys, me, Herb, and Keeanu and even Washington, we all came in together. Those are my guys. So I was ecstatic that they got paid. It’s well deserved, it’s well earned. I’m happy that they get to feed their families.” First-round tackle Broderick Jones, taken 14th in that same draft, is not in the photo. Pittsburgh declined his fifth-year option after a neck injury.

The Cap Tightened After Those Extensions

Porter is still playing on the four-year, $9,618,348 rookie contract he signed on July 26, 2023, his 23rd birthday. The deal included a $3,995,160 signing bonus and $8,999,870 in guarantees. His 2026 cap charge of $4,922,790 is the last year of that slot. The cash due this season is $3,924,000. He becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2027 if nothing else is signed.

Over The Cap’s 2025 valuation on him sits near $20 million. Benton’s same metric sits near $8.27 million, and Benton just got $18 million a year. That is the bind Pittsburgh built for itself. The cheaper three were easier to finish, so they got finished, and the remaining cap is now the problem of the one player whose number will be largest.

Herbig’s 2026 cash of $21 million is more than five times Porter’s $3.92 million. Benton takes in $14 million this year on the new deal. Khan can still restructure veterans, move a contract, or use the 2027 franchise tag if this drags. Those are tools, not a signed corner.

Cornerback Prices Moved While Pittsburgh Waited

The wait would sting less if the position had stayed cheap. It did not. Contract trackers now put Seattle’s Devon Witherspoon at $33 million a year on a $132 million deal with $101 million guaranteed. Denzel Ward is at $31.1 million. Trent McDuffie is at $31 million. Sauce Gardner is at $30.1 million. Derek Stingley Jr. is at $30 million. Jaycee Horn is at $25 million.

THE CORNER MARKET PORTER IS WALKING INTO

• Witherspoon: $33 million a year, the present top of the position.
• Ward and McDuffie: $31.1 million and $31 million.
• Gardner and Stingley: $30.1 million and $30 million.
• Jalen Ramsey, already in Pittsburgh: $24.1 million a year on the same roster Porter wants to re-up with.

Ramsey’s presence is the quiet tax on a Porter deal. Pittsburgh is already paying a veteran corner at that tier, with Jamel Dean, Asante Samuel Jr., and Brandin Echols also on the 53. A second contract for Porter in the mid-20s or higher would stack two expensive outside corners on a defense that just committed $25 million a year to Herbig in front of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith.

The tape argument cuts both ways, and it should be said plainly. Porter has 41 starts and three interceptions across 47 games, with 165 tackles and 31 passes defensed, plus a PFWA All-Rookie nod in 2023. Last season he played 14 games, took 52 tackles, broke up 14 passes, and added a sack. Pro Football Focus gave him a 74.1 coverage grade last season, 20th among 114 qualifying corners, and a 67.6 overall mark that ranked 36th. He allowed a 56.2 passer rating when targeted. He has zero Pro Bowls. Run defense graded 39.4, 104th at the spot. That is a long, physical starter who still draws flags, not a locked-in $33 million player. Starter money is still a giant raise from $2.40 million a year.

A Camp Back Injury Gave Him Cover

Porter said the back injury he aggravated in mobility work on the first day of camp was the whole reason he missed training camp and the preseason. That is also how a modern hold-in looks in Pittsburgh. Players report, stay in meetings, avoid the hitting, and wait. T.J. Watt, Diontae Johnson, and Cameron Heyward all used some version of that path and later signed. Herbig even held in during minicamp before his $100 million week. Porter opened OTAs and minicamp the same way, present and light on the grass.

FROM MINICAMP TO TUESDAY

1. June 2026: Porter and Herbig begin minicamp as hold-ins, taking little more than walk-through snaps while they seek new deals.
2. Early June 2026: Herbig’s $100 million extension lands; Washington’s $42 million deal is already in. Porter remains on the rookie contract.
3. Camp open: Porter starts on the physically unable to perform list with the back injury, and McCarthy later calls the talks an impasse.
4. Aug. 14, 2026: Benton signs, the third 2023 teammate paid, leaving Porter as the last of the targeted four.
5. Sunday, roster cutdown: Pittsburgh activates Porter off PUP.
6. Tuesday, Sept. 1: He practices, then declines to promise Week 1 without a deal.

Khan did not flag him as a PUP candidate before camp, which is why the back and the contract have been hard to separate. Porter can tell the truth about the injury and still be using the only clean leverage a player on a signed rookie deal gets inside this building. Fines hit a holdout. A hold-in with a medical file does not cost him the same way. “It’s been tough, not going to lie,” he said of the talks. “It’s my first go around with this.”

Heyward’s Advice Came With a Warning

Heyward went through his own difficult talks during last year’s camp, sitting out team periods and saying he had not ruled out skipping games before he returned to full practice. On Tuesday he stood with Porter in public. He said there is nobody in that locker room who does not want Joey on the field, and that this will not change.

Don’t take it personal, but you will. It’s a business at the end of the day. I want everybody to get paid, and I want everybody to be acknowledged for the work they put in because this game is not forever, and we have to maximize every dollar.

Cameron Heyward, Steelers defensive lineman, Tuesday at the team facility

Porter has also been taking counsel from his father, Joey Porter Sr., the former Steelers linebacker and coach. “He’s been giving me great advice,” the son said. “I can’t say too much on what he’s been saying to me, but he’s been giving me great advice. He’s been in my corner my whole life, so I wouldn’t think he would steer me in the wrong direction.” The father knows this franchise from the roster and the staff. That is a different ear than most 26-year-olds get when a first contract fight starts.

The locker room case for paying him is simple: they already paid Herb, Keeanu, and Washington, and this sport does not last. The football case for waiting is also simple: the grade is 36th, the ball production is one interception a year, and Ramsey is already expensive. Pittsburgh funded the rotation and the interior before it funded the hometown corner it drafted and developed. That choice is why Tuesday sounded like a test instead of a return.

Atlanta Visits Acrisure on Sept. 13

The Sunday, Sept. 13 opener against Atlanta is at 1:00 p.m. EDT on FOX at Acrisure Stadium. That is 11 days from Wednesday. If Khan holds the freeze, a deal that is not done by then is not done in October either, or in January if they are still playing. Porter can play on the rookie number, sit and bet the back and the market, or force the club toward a tag in 2027. Khan can pay him, tag him later, or live with Dean, Samuel, Echols, and Ramsey on the outside for a week that may become a season.

Porter said he could hope and think all day, and that it is up to the people upstairs and what they want to do with this team. All he can do, he said, is show up and be prepared. He showed up Tuesday. He did not close the door on staying home when the Falcons do.