Steelers facing potential contract issue with Joey Porter Jr.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have already locked in two key young players with long-term contract extensions this offseason, signing edge-rusher Nick Herbig and tight end Darnell Washington to new deals.

There is another key player on their roster that is getting close to needing a new contract, and it might be their most important one.

It might also be their most difficult.

Steelers facing potential contract issue with Joey Porter Jr.

Starting cornerback Joey Porter Jr. is entering the final year of his rookie contract with the Steelers, and is also coming off the best season of his career. 

He developed into a true lockdown corner for the Steelers in 2025, and had one of the best seasons of any defensive back in the NFL.

But talks on a new contract seem to be at a stalemate as the Steelers try to determine how much money Porter is worth.

Longtime Steelers beat writer Gerry Dulac said in his weekly chat at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the Steelers haven't necessarily soured on the idea of a new contract for Porter, but may not be willing to go as high as he wants in terms of money.

The top 10 cornerbacks in the NFL all make at least $20 million per season, and there are reports that Porter could want as much as $30 million on a new deal. 

That would be an expensive contract, and would require full confidence from the Steelers that Porter is among the NFL's elite at the position.

If he repeats his 2025 performance, there would be no doubt about that.

But the first two years of his career prior to that were a little up-and-down in terms of consistency.

Porter does not post elite numbers in terms of turnovers, intercepting just three passes in his career. But part of that is due to the reality that teams simply do not throw in his direction very often, resulting in him also going on an extensive run of having not allowed a touchdown pass. His job is to keep other team's star wide receivers in check, and he typically does that. 

The only other big knock on him is that his aggressive, handsy style of play has a tendency to result in a lot of penalties that can extend drives. 

He also cleaned up a lot of that in the second half of the 2025 season. 

There is another potentially frustrating layer to this for the Steelers. 

They selected him with the No. 32 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, which is typically a first-round selection. But because there were only 31 picks in the first-round that year (the Miami Dolphins had a pick forfeited), Porter was still considered a second-round selection even at No. 32 (it was a second-round pick acquired from the Chicago Bears in a trade for wide receiver Chase Claypool). That creates a big difference for contracts and free agency under the CBA. Had Porter been considered a first-round pick at No. 32, that would have given the Steelers the option to use a fifth-year option and keep him for one more season before needing to work out a big extension.

But as a second-round pick that option never existed.

The question now becomes what options Porter can use to try to get a new deal. The Steelers famously do not negotiate contracts during the regular season, so there is a firm deadline for when a deal would need to be completed.

Would Porter hold out from training camp?

Or perhaps do the new trend of holding-in where he shows up but does not participate in practices?

The Steelers have had some situations like this in recent years with defensive lineman Cam Heyward and edge-rusher T.J. Watt, eventually giving in and paying the new contracts. 

We will see if that playbook gets opened again.