The Steelers’ secondary will open training camp down a couple of starters. The team placed cornerbacks Joey Porter Jr. and Jalen Ramsey on the active/physically unable to perform list on Tuesday. Fellow corner Donte Kent also landed on active/PUP.
Porter aggravated his back during a Tuesday morning mobility workout, Brooke Pryor of ESPN reports. It is unclear how much time he will miss, while Ramsey will likely be out for “a couple of weeks,” general manager Omar Khan said. The 11th-year man suffered a knee injury during Steelers minicamp. Kent is also recovering from a knee injury, which he sustained last December. Between that issue and a foot injury he suffered in camp last summer, Kent did not play at all as a rookie seventh-round pick in 2025.
Porter is angling to become one of the NFL’s highest-paid cornerbacks this year, the last season of his rookie deal. Since the Steelers took him with the first pick of the second round in 2023, Porter has established himself as their No. 1 corner. The second-generation Steeler may be in line for an extension approaching or exceeding $30MM per year, though he and the team were not close to a deal as of late June.
Former head coach Mike Tomlin moved Ramsey to safety midway through last season, but the Steelers are classifying the eight-time Pro Bowler as a corner again under first-year defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. Ramsey will likely continue in a versatile role after amassing between 160 and 450 snaps at four different spots (outside corner, slot CB, free safety and box safety) last year. While he will have to get healthy first, it does not appear Pittsburgh expects the 31-year-old to miss any regular-season action. If Ramsey is not ready to return by Aug. 30, though, he will shift to reserve/PUP and sit out the Steelers’ first four games.
In better news for Pittsburgh, offensive tackle Broderick Jones has been medically cleared, Khan announced. Jones’ status for camp had been in question after he underwent spinal fusion surgery in December. The procedure was to address a neck injury that limited Jones to 11 games in 2025.
Jones was the Steelers’ starting left tackle when healthy last season, but he did not perform well enough for the team to pick up his $19.07MM fifth-year option during the spring. Now going into a platform year, the 2023 first-rounder may end up on the bench after garnering significant starting experience at both tackle positions in his first three seasons.
Troy Fautanu, a 2024 first-rounder, is the front-runner to start at left tackle. The Steelers added yet another first-round tackle, Max Iheanachor, with the 21st pick in this year’s draft. Iheanachor or Dylan Cook may begin the year as the No. 1 option on the right side, but new head coach Mike McCarthy isn’t counting Jones out.
“We’ll work him back in,” McCarthy said (via Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). “That will be identified as we get going. Broderick is a starting-level player and he has position flexibility. That’s how we’ll get him started.”