Porter Jr. situation could 'go haywire'
Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss the Steelers' "outdated" policy of not negotiating contracts during the season and explain how things could go south if Joey Porter Jr. doesn't have a deal by Week 1.
Video Transcript
One last note as it relates to cornerbacks who are trying to get contracts by week one.
We've talked at length about the Joey Porter Jr. Situation.
He was non-committal on playing week one without a contract extension.
I don't know.
I would have to talk to the guys upstairs and my agents about that one.
This just underscores the fact that the Steelers' outdated and ill-advised policy toward contracts not completed by week one is gonna bite them in the ass on this if they don't get a deal done with Joey Porter.
There's no off-ramp.
If this isn't done by week one and he says he's not gonna play, there aren't a lot of options, and none of them are good at that point.
And even if, like, he would play really well and have, like, an All-Pro level season by October, hey, you know what?
We should pay this guy before he sniffs the open market.
Oh, nope, our rule i- nope, our rule, sorry, our rule is we can't do that.
So the whole thing's just dumb, and it puts more pressure on everyone to get this done by week one.
It's gonna go haywire if they don't get this done by week one.
Yeah, this feels like this one could go haywire.
I, I feel like I ha- we, I have confidence in the Patriots, because a- again, I think we all know he's gonna be the highest paid guy.
It's just about language, guarantees, something like that.
That's what's holding this up.
This one here seems like there's a true, like, no way are you worth that.
You're not worth that.
We like you a lot.
We'd like you to be here forever, but you're not up here.
You're down the list somewhere.
And there's a loss of reality for the either, either side, depending on who you are.
Joey Porter's probably looking at the Steelers going, "You guys aren't realistic."
And the, the Steelers are looking at Joey Porter going, "You're not realistic."
So we'll see where this goes, but it does seem pretty contentious there.
