Joey Porter Jr. Will Not Get Paid Until He Practices

Joey Porter Jr. is still on the Steelers’ PUP list, and NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo said Tuesday the team has not made him an offer. Coach Mike McCarthy called the talks an impasse on Monday, with 18 days left before the regular season.

Porter is sitting to protect a top-of-market corner deal. A first-year staff is using that absence as the reason talks have not started.

The Steelers Have Not Put a Number on the Table

Garafolo told Good Morning Football that people familiar with the talks say Pittsburgh has not submitted a bid. He added that the Steelers want Porter off the PUP list and practicing before they kick-start talks. McCarthy’s word “impasse” usually means both sides have moved and stalled. Garafolo said this one does not look like that, because the club has not made a financial run.

https://x.com/MikeGarafolo/status/2092035861680394284

Porter is in the last year of the four-year rookie deal he signed on July 26, 2023. Over The Cap lists a 2026 cap charge of $4,922,790 and a cash payout of $3,924,000. He becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2027. The Steelers, citing Over The Cap in reporting by Mike DeFabo of The Athletic, would have a projected franchise tag around $23,119,000 that year, well under the new corner market.

He was the 32nd pick in 2023, the first selection of round two, so the deal never carried a fifth-year option. Seattle and New England can keep Devon Witherspoon and Christian Gonzalez on option years if talks slip. Pittsburgh cannot. General manager Omar Khan already signed three other members of that draft class. Porter is the one still working on a rookie rate.

Why a New Coaching Staff Will Not Pay Blind

McCarthy’s group has never coached Porter through a padded practice, and that is the gap the hold-in was supposed to ignore. Other than a few walk-through reps in the spring, he has not practiced for this staff. Khan did not name him as a PUP player before camp. Hours later the club posted that he had been added with a back injury from the mobility test.

This is a challenge for both Joey and us, because we’re a first-year staff. We’ve seen him play. I’ve competed against Joey. I would love the opportunity to coach Joey Porter. I know our defensive guys would love the opportunity.

Mike McCarthy, Steelers head coach, Aug. 24 press session

Asked later whether Porter was still hurt, McCarthy told ESPN’s Brooke Pryor he was “in a business situation right now” and that this was “the focal point,” while adding that he remains on PUP. The louder argument around the team is not whether Porter can cover. It is whether a new staff should write a $30 million check for a corner it has never put through a padded practice in its own scheme, with Patrick Graham running the defense.

Jalen Ramsey, already on the roster as the seventh-highest-paid corner at more than $24 million a year, made the football case for paying him. “We need the whole secondary out there. They’ve got to pay Joey Porter,” Ramsey said. Ramsey himself came off PUP this week. The corner group also added Jamel Dean in free agency. Pittsburgh can wait in a way last year’s staff could not, because last year’s staff had years of practice tape on Porter and this one has almost none.

Five Corners Now Earn $30 Million a Year

Porter said during OTAs that he has been an “elite” corner since he entered the league. The market he is chasing moved again on Aug. 15, when Witherspoon and Seattle agreed to a four-year, $132 million deal at $33 million a year, with more than $101 million guaranteed. The Athletic notes that seven corners have now passed Patrick Surtain II’s $24 million deal from 2024, and five sit above $30 million a year.

NBC Sports, citing a prior report, has had Porter seeking about $30 million a year. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote in the summer that the Steelers still want a deal but may not climb as high as he wants. StickToTheModel, as of Aug. 26, carries a model of $24.5 million a year on a four-year, $98 million outline, which would still leave him short of the new floor at the top of the position.

The 2025 tape:

• Touchdowns: Among 34 corners with at least 900 snaps, Porter was the only one who did not allow a touchdown, per the Tribune-Review.
• The streak: He has not allowed a touchdown in coverage since Week 8 of 2023, more than 1,000 snaps, the longest active run in the league, per Pro Football Focus via The Athletic.
• Balls batted: He tied for fourth with 13 pass breakups, and his 47.8 percent reception rate ranked fourth.
• Flags: He led the league with 17 flags in 2024 (12 accepted) and cut that to nine flags and six accepted last year.

Over The Cap’s 2025 valuation on him was $20,028,000. Pro Football Rumors notes he still has no Pro Bowl or All-Pro on the résumé. That split, shutdown snaps without the honorary stickers, is the room the Steelers can use to keep a bid below Witherspoon money if they ever make one.

Herbig Practiced, Then Collected $100 Million

Garafolo put the contradiction in one line. “Well, if you’re Joey Porter Jr. … you didn’t have to see Nick Herbig on the field before you got him done, back in the spring,” he said. “He wasn’t participating in the offseason workouts before they did a four-year, $100 million deal with the linebacker there.”

Herbig, a fourth-round pick in the same 2023 class, agreed to that extension on June 2, with Over The Cap dating the signing to June 4. The deal carries $21 million fully guaranteed at signing and $42 million in guarantees. He had skipped early OTAs, then showed up at minicamp, said he wanted to be a Steeler for life, and got paid the same afternoon. He had 7.5 sacks last year on 52.4 percent of the snaps and six starts.

The 2023 class, already paid:

• Nick Herbig: Four years, $100 million, agreed in early June after a short hold-in.
• Darnell Washington: Four years, $42 million.
• Keeanu Benton: Four years, $72 million, completed this month.
• Joey Porter Jr.: Still on the $9,618,348 rookie contract, with no bid on the table.

DeFabo wrote that Porter’s play may make him the member of that class most deserving of a new deal, and that this is also why the two sides have struggled to meet. Herbig gave a new staff a look in the building. Porter has given it a back injury and empty practice periods. The old hold-in playbook paid the edge rusher because he eventually stood on the grass. The corner is still in the training room, and the new coaches will not price a player they have not coached.

Staying on PUP Past Aug. 30 Costs Four Games

Porter can come off Active/PUP at any time during camp and start practicing. The cost of staying is the cutdown. Clubs must be at 53 players by 6 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, Aug. 30. A player still on PUP that day moves to reserve/PUP and must miss the first four regular-season games. George Kittle’s parallel this week is the reminder: the 49ers took him off PUP on Aug. 23 because leaving him there through cutdown would have barred him until Week 5.

1. June 2: Herbig agrees to four years, $100 million after showing up at minicamp.
2. Late July: Porter is posted to Active/PUP with a back injury, hours after Khan did not name him as a PUP player.
3. Aug. 24: McCarthy calls the talks an impasse and says his first-year staff wants to coach him.
4. Aug. 25: Garafolo reports there has been no Steelers offer and that they want him on the field first.
5. Aug. 30: 53-man cutdown. Stay on PUP, and he cannot play until Week 5.
6. Sept. 13: Regular-season opener against Atlanta, if he is active.

The league’s collective bargaining agreement, in Article 20, Section 2, says a player on PUP receives full pay while on PUP. In the last year of a contract, that deal can be tolled if he is still unable to perform as of the sixth regular-season game and is never restored to the active list. If the back is real and he stays out, Pittsburgh could keep 2026 from counting. If the PUP stint is a hold-in in medical clothing, he has to declare himself healthy, practice without a new deal, and take the injury risk that could wipe out the payday he is guarding.

Hold-Ins Worked for Watt and Heyward

Pittsburgh has a long rule against talking to players who stay home, and a separate rule against doing new deals once the regular season starts. True holdouts used to have a simple path. Hines Ward sat out briefly before the 2005 camp, reported, and soon got a four-year extension. The modern version is the hold-in: show up, attend meetings, skip the heavy work.

That version paid T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, and Diontae Johnson, DeFabo noted, and Herbig used a one-day version in June. Porter is running the same play in a different building. McCarthy and Graham do not have years of Steelers practice tape to fall back on. Every missed padded day is a day they cannot see if he fits the new defense, which is the look they say they need before they spend.

The calendar is also tighter than it was for Watt. Porter has to decide before the season, because even a Week 1 debut would land after the club’s own cutoff for contract talks. A strong 2026 would raise his 2027 price. A slow start in a new scheme would hand the tag more power, because that number still sits under the five corners already clearing $30 million.

Pittsburgh Hosts Atlanta on Sept. 13 Either Way

The club’s schedule lists a Sept. 13 home date with Atlanta at 1 p.m. on FOX at Acrisure Stadium. Geoff Schwartz said this week he expects Porter back for Week 1, because players in this spot often fold. Jordan Schultz has reported that clubs have “wondered about” Porter as a trade name. ESPN, via NBC Sports, said the Steelers have neither made nor taken trade calls. Ian Rapoport said the situation could still go in a few directions. Christian Gonzalez remaining unsigned in New England is the next number that could move Porter’s ask if the Patriots pay him first.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The bid: Garafolo said Tuesday the Steelers have not made an offer.
• The list: Porter is on Active/PUP and cannot practice until he comes off it.
• The policy: Pittsburgh does not do in-season deals, so the window is pre-Sept. 13.
• The backup: The 2027 franchise tag is projected near $23.1 million.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The ask: A $30 million average has been reported, not confirmed by Porter’s camp this week.
• The back: McCarthy still lists him on PUP while calling it a business situation.
• A trade: Outside clubs have wondered; Pittsburgh says no calls have gone either way.
• Week 1: Activation is still his call, and it has to come before the Aug. 30 cutdown if he wants to play in September.

If he is still on PUP at 6 p.m. Eastern on Aug. 30, he cannot play until Week 5, and the new staff will have opened the season without its top corner. If he takes the field this week, he practices on the cheap deal and takes the injury risk he sat out to avoid. That is the bind his hold-in built.