1:12pm: Mark Kaboly of the Pat McAfee Show reports the Steelers have not made or received any trade calls regarding Porter at this time. He adds, to no surprise, Pittsburgh’s preference is to keep Porter in the fold barring a substantial offer. It is still unclear whether or not an extension will be signed in time for Week 1, though.
9:02am: The Steelers have been busy on the extension front this offseason, but Joey Porter Jr. remains a pending 2027 free agent at this point. Serious talks on a second contract had not taken place by the time training camp began in his case.
With nothing imminent regarding a long-term Pittsburgh commitment, questions about Porter’s future are inevitable. On that note, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reports teams around the league “have wondered about” the fourth-year cornerback as a potential trade target. This situation could be worth monitoring in the build-up to roster cuts as a result.
The Steelers have a long-standing organizational policy of avoiding in-season contract negotiations, and general manager Omar Khan has maintained that tradition. As a result, Porter is set to spend the coming campaign with an unclear outlook barring an acceleration of extension talks in the near future. A lack of progress in that respect could of course increase the degree of interest from suitors looking to swing a trade.
Taken 32nd in the 2023 draft (during which the Dolphins were stripped of their top pick), Porter entered the league as a second-rounder and was therefore not eligible for a fifth-year option. The Penn State product has certainly boosted his stock over the course of his Steelers run to date, with this past season seeing him record a career-high 14 pass deflections. Porter also improved on his penalty totals while thriving in coverage with an average of just five yards per target and a passer rating of 57.2 allowed as the nearest defender.
Throughout the spring, it has been unclear where Porter’s asking price resides and whether or not the Steelers are willing to meet it. The cornerback market spiked to $31MM per season this spring when Trent McDuffie was traded to (and then extended by) the Rams. The bar was recently moved once again by Devon Witherspoon, who like Porter was also part of the 2023 draft class. Witherspoon’s Seahawks deal averages $33MM in average annual value, a figure which could be topped if/when Christian Gonzalez and the Patriots finalize an extension of their own.
Any team interested in Porter, 26, would be in a similar situation to the Rams and McDuffie. A trade would need to be followed by a long-term contract agreement making him one of the league’s highest-paid players at the CB spot. That could limit the list of serious suitors in this case, especially if Porter winds up securing a top-five deal whenever (and wherever) his next pact is finalized.
The Steelers still have Jalen Ramsey in place as a versatile defensive back, and they added Jamel Dean in free agency. Key roles await both, with the same also being true of younger defenders like Nate Herbig and Keeanu Benton who agreed to Steelers raises this offseason. Whether or not Porter joins those two as ascending core players remains uncertain; speculation with respect to a trade will no doubt pick up for however long that continues.
