Latest on Joey Porter Jr. Contract Talks | Steelers Morning Rush
Welcome to Steelers Morning Rush, our new daily short-form podcast with Alan Saunders, giving a longer perspective on a single news topic surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers or the National Football League.Would the Steelers really consider trading Joey Porter Jr? Contract talks between the team and the star cornerback have been going nowhere, but a recent report that suggests other NFL teams are circling for the homegrown defensive back seems far-fetched.Alan breaks it down: #steelers #herewego #nflCONNECT WITH STEELERS NOW:Steelers Now: https://steelersnow.comSN on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pghsteelersnowSN on FB: https://facebook.com/steelersnowSN on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/pghsteelersnow/
Video Transcript
Hey, folks.
Good morning and welcome to another episode of Steelers Morning Rush.
I'm Alan Saunders.
It is Friday, August 21st, and the Pittsburgh Steelers play their second preseason game of 2026 this evening at Acrisure Stadium against the New York Jets.
I will be on-hand at Acrisure Stadium, along with Brendan Howe and Ed Thompson of Steelers Now, and we will have all the coverage of the game as usual this evening.
Also, we'll be doing a live version of Steelers Afternoon Drive with Zachary Smith at a little bit after 5:00 from Acrisure Stadium.
Did that last week and it went very well, so we'll be doing that again this week.
So make sure you get in, on the YouTube channel and get set up for that, 5:00 here, or thereabouts, this evening.
But I guess this morning we're talking about Joey Porter Jr.
There was a report late last night from Jordan Schultz that other teams are wondering if Porter might be in- available in a trade as his contract negotiations, drag into the middle of the team's preseason.
Porter is on the PUP list, which, with what was reported as a back injury.
I don't know how injured he actually is or if he's injured at all, and that is simply a, a way to deal with a hold-in as Porter seeks a new contract.
There has not been very much progress between the two sides since the start of training camp.
Actually, there may not have been any progress.
There has not been any reported progress, and from what I heard, there is not a lot of progress in talks between Porter and the Steelers, despite the fact that Devin Witherspoon just recently reset the free agent cornerback market with a $33 million-a-year contract.
I don't think that dollar figure was necessarily good news for Porter.
I think it probably keeps him at or under $30 million a year, which is, I mean, pretty much where I would think his market value lied going back to the very beginning, some- somewhere between 25 and 30.
Probably now in the upper half of that range as you see in the deal that maybe, say, Denzel Ward got from the Cleveland Browns, opening some eyes, even though it's only a two-year deal.
And the fact that Christian Gonzalez of the New England Patriots will likely come in on top of Witherspoon if he signs a new deal this off-season.
But, not a lot of progress between the Steelers and Porter, so I mean, I think you can pretty nakedly, see that this is an attempt to try to get things moving by one side or the other.
I would gather that's the agency, but, you know, whatever.
Also a report from, pal Chris Hallock of DK Pittsburgh Sports on Friday, which said the Steelers and Porter, remain far apart on a contract extension, which, is what I'm hearing.
And I, I don't get the sense that the Steelers, are looking to meet Porter's price at this point.
I don't know what it is, so it's awfully hard to say if that is a reasonable, suggestion or not.
But clearly the ask is more than the Steelers are willing to go to.
Omar Khan generally does pretty well with these types of negotiations.
And so, I think he, he deserves the benefit of the doubt in terms of the way this plays out.
But I don't really see this is really the first time I've seen someone make an attempt to, to get this process moving.
It has been very quiet and, and nearly silent as the Steelers did a deal with Keanu Benton.
And, it may not be the only other piece of, of, business they do outside of Joey Porter Jr. As we're heading into the season.
So, interested to see what happens.
A- as far as trading Joey Porter, I mean, that's just not going to happen.
There's absolutely no reason for the Steelers to even consider it.
They, w- whether or not they wanna meet his asking price, have the ability to control him for as long as they'd like to with the, the franchise tag.
And when you're talking about a contract which will be at or above the franchise tag in all likelihood, I mean, that's not really that scary of a proposition.
The Steelers could give him a one-year guarantee.
We, we don't know what the franchise tag value will be in 2027, but i- and it will go up, but this year the franchise tag was 21.1 million.
Next year it, you know, maybe it'll go to 24, but that's still gonna be less than Porter's going to get on his contract extension.
So even if it goes up to 28, I mean, that's just simply likely about where this, this contract extension is, is likely to land, and that's over a long-term deal that has significant, risk for the team, whereas a, you know, one-year deal, even though it's guaranteed, doesn't, doesn't carry very much future risk.
So, the idea of trading him is absurd.
Unless Porter asks for one, I can't even fathom that it would be contemplated.
I would assume that even if they don't get a deal done, that he will eventually report to practice and play this year, and then, you know, deal with the franchise tag down the road if that's the way things go.
To me, that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Porter is one of the best homegrown defensive backs the Steelers have drafted in recent memory, and it makes all the sense in the world to try to extend him right now.
I think the cornerback market is high but fair.
I mean, you look at what wide receivers are worth, and someone who can take one of those away, and has, you know, not allowed a touchdown in, in two years, and, th- that, that's pretty valuable stuff.
And so, Mike McCarthy said he's not concerned about the amount of practice time that Joey Porter Jr. Has missed, although I You know, with the new defense, it, there's only so many ways to play cornerback.
It's not like Patrick Graham is reinventing the wheel, but I think it would be helpful to get him into practice here before the end.
But I don't know that there's some sort of, big, factor, some big date, some big thing that is gonna push this process along.
This could be something, much like T.J. Watt in 2021, that we see all the way, go all the way down to the wire in that last week before the regular season.
One thing we do know is that the Steelers will not continue to negotiate- contracts, after the season starts.
If they do have a final offer that they make before that point, they will allow the player to accept it, but they're not going to continue in contract talks after the season starts.
And the Steelers and Porter could, you know, reach an agreement on an extension between the end of the season and the, deadline to be franchise tagged, which is in March.
Or he will hit free agency next March.
So that's, that's the outlook.
A lot of talk about a very minimal update, but figured we had to give one based on the news cycle.
And, we'll, we'll talk about, you know, football later today.
Me and Smitty live with your questions on Afternoon Drive, and then, after the game, me and Joe Morrison live here on the YouTube channel as well, from Acrisure Stadium with all the good stuff right after Steelers-Jets at 7:00 PM.
That's it for this morning.
Thank you so much for listening and for watching, and we will make sure you go over to steelersnow.com, by the way.
Check out all the coverage, before the game, leading up to the game, during the game, after the game.
I'll have my takeaways.
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We'll be going to Buffalo next week.
Excited about that.
Just, looking at places.
So, really fired up about this season and, ready to go cover some more football.
That's it for this morning.
We will see you on the other side, like I said, live at 5:00, me and Smitty, and then me and Joe live post-game from Acrisure Stadium.
Until then, thanks for listening, thanks for watching, and enjoy
