Steelers’ Absurd Pushback On Joey Porter Jr Deal Potentially Revealed

The Pittsburgh Steelers have made it a point to secure all of their guys they believe are part of their future success. Re-signing both 2023 draft class members, Darnell Washington and Nick Herbig, to long-term deals got finalized earlier last month. Herbig has been a backup, but he has shown immense potential that, with more snaps, will hopefully continue. Washington, on the other hand, isn't the flashiest move. The big man has been the backup/blocking tight end, not really much of a threat in the pass game outside of short yardage. He's been an exceptional run-after-the-catch player though, and with those two young players locked up for the foreseeable future, there's one more member of the 2023 class that still needs an extension. 

2023 second-round pick Joey Porter Jr., is in dire need of a new deal. Porter had an up-and-down first two years in the NFL, mostly due to penalties, but in 2025, he broke out for an elite season. With his breakout comes the money to compensate him, and so far the Steelers aren't budging. This raises concerns about his status heading into training camp. 

While Porter is one of the NFL's premier cornerbacks, he has yet to make his first career Pro Bowl or All-Pro selection, which is certainly a factor in his negotiations. Porter plays in a loaded class of cornerbacks in the AFC, alongside Christian Gonzalez, Patrick Surtain II, and Derek Stingley Jr., making it that much harder to earn such accolades. However, there is one factor in Porter's game that may hold him back not only from receiving Pro Bowl votes, but also from putting pressure on the Steelers. 

Team insider Mark Kaboly recently appeared on an episode of his show, Kaboly + Mack, where he talked about the obvious need for a Porter extension. Kaboly says he believes the deal will get done eventually, but points out a flaw in Porter's game that could be causing the Steelers to push back. In his three seasons, Porter has only three interceptions and no forced fumbles or fumble recoveries, having a real lack of turnovers. 

"The problem with Joey is the turnovers. I mean, how many career interceptions does he have? Not many," Kaboly said. "And that's where, if he says, I'm a shutdown corner, I'm 20-some years old, I have so much future ahead of me of being better, they're gonna say, 'Yeah, but you only got three career interceptions." 

Porter has been an outlier in a defense that was so turnover-reliant, but that's never been his game. In three years at Penn State, he recorded just one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. Porter excels at completely taking a target away from the opposing team's quarterback. He allowed just a 56.2 passer rating and 27 total receptions on the season with 11 pass breakups. That might be good enough to overlook the lack of turnover production. 

Not only has Porter excelled, but he has done so at a schematic disadvantage. The Steelers' defensive scheme has been very vanilla in terms of coverages over the last few seasons, leaning heavily on cover-3 and cover-1, making the defense very predictable. Despite this, Porter has managed to post elite numbers across all areas except interceptions. At just 25 years old, a big extension may be worth it. 

Steelers Must Get Pen To Paper

Porter is the type of player the franchise hasn't had in a very long time. He's a young ascending cornerback, who is one of the very best in the entire league. It would be very bad business for General Manager Omar Khan to potentially let go of arguably his most valuable player in the secondary. 

A deal must get done to keep Porter in Pittsburgh. Otherwise, it will create a new hole on the roster that is very hard to fill. 

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