Steelers Become Bad Guys After Christian Gonzalez Deal

The Pittsburgh Steelers watched Christian Gonzalez become the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL, signing a $135 million deal with the New England Patriots. Now, all eyes are on Joey Porter Jr., who has no excuses left for not signing this offseason.

The Steelers and Porter have negotiated all offseason, but nothing has moved quickly. The two sides have gone stretches without talking, but with the season nearing, they've been talking as they try to land a deal before Week 1. Pittsburgh will not negotiate during the regular season.

The clock is ticking, but a deal can still happen at any moment. Until kickoff against the Atlanta Falcons, anything is possible, and the Gonzalez deal only makes things more likely.

Right now, it's the Steelers who look the worst in this situation. With Devon Witherspoon and Gonzalez signing massive deals, Porter should join the rest of his draft class and do the same. But Pittsburgh isn't looking for that.

Now, it shouldn't be a record-breaking deal. Porter is two years older than Gonzalez, but has the same amount of regular season interceptions (3) throughout his career. So, the interception numbers shouldn't play too big of a factor. He's not considered a top-five cornerback like Gonzalez is, but he is boardline top-10.

He should be paid as a top-five with the growth he showed last season.

Steelers Need to Make Something Happen

The Steelers should be comfortable giving Porter a deal worth at least $30 million per year. With the two highest-paid corners now exceeding $32 million annually, Porter should crack the top five and be sitting somewhere around $30.1 million per year.

As for the guaranteed money, it will never reach $100 million like Witherspoon and Gonzalez, but surpassing names like Sauce Gardner and Trent McDuffie seems reasonable. $60 million total feels (and has felt) like a good number.

The Steelers need to budge from whatever lowball number they've been tossing out there. This is the first cornerback the team has developed since Ike Taylor, and moving on from him makes almost no sense.

Yes, they can franchise tag him a year from now and save money in the long run, but that's not what teams do to players that they want to keep around long-term.

The Steelers need to show Porter some love. They need to pay him what he's worth.

Gonzalez just finalized the numbers. It's time for Pittsburgh to put pen to paper on a deal.