The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

By Chris Gates | The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

Joey Porter Jr. is back.

Sort of.

The Pittsburgh Steelers activated Porter from the physically unable to perform list over the weekend, and on Tuesday, he returned to the practice field for the first time since the beginning of training camp.

That’s obviously a positive development after weeks of uncertainty surrounding his back injury and ongoing contract situation.

But if you were hoping Porter’s return would finally provide some clarity about whether the Steelers’ No. 1 cornerback will be on the field when Pittsburgh opens the season against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 13, well…

We still don’t know.

And there are now two separate issues the Steelers and Porter need to work through over the next week and a half.

First, Porter needs to get physically ready to play after essentially missing all of training camp.

Then there’s the much bigger question:

Will he actually play without a new contract?

Porter Is Back, But He’s Not Fully Back

Mike McCarthy confirmed Tuesday that Porter would return to practice, but he also made it clear that the Steelers aren’t simply throwing him immediately into a full workload.

There’s going to be a ramp-up period.

That makes sense.

Porter has been working with the Steelers’ medical staff while dealing with an apparent back injury, and he didn’t go through a normal training camp. He hasn’t accumulated weeks of full-speed practices, preseason reps and everything else that prepares an NFL player for the regular season.

Porter acknowledged as much after Tuesday’s practice.

He said he was back running with his teammates but was still working toward getting fully back and planned to take the process day by day.

So even if we completely removed the contract dispute from the equation, there’s still a legitimate football question here:

Can Porter get himself ready to play meaningful NFL snaps by Sept. 13?

The Steelers have some time.

But not a lot of it.

And Then There’s the Contract

This is where Tuesday got much more interesting.

Porter showed up.

He practiced.

So surely that means he’s planning to play this season regardless of whether he gets an extension, right?

Not necessarily.

When Porter was asked whether he would play without a new contract, his answer was anything but definitive.

“I don’t know.”

Porter said he’d have to talk with Steelers management and his agents about that decision.

That’s hardly the definitive answer Steelers fans were probably looking for.

And it means that while one phase of this standoff may be over, the larger issue absolutely is not.

Porter returning to practice is significant. The conversation no longer needs to revolve around whether he’s going to remain away from the team or start accumulating fines.

Now the question becomes much simpler: Will Joey Porter Jr. be on the field against Atlanta?

At the moment, Porter himself isn’t willing to guarantee it.

Two Different Clocks Are Now Ticking

That’s what makes the next week and a half so fascinating.

There are essentially two countdowns happening simultaneously.

The first is physical.

Porter needs to ramp up his workload, get back into football shape and prove that his back and body are ready for a full NFL game.

• How quickly does he progress from Tuesday’s work into full practices?
• How much team work does he get?
• When does McCarthy feel comfortable saying Porter is physically prepared to play?

Those questions should start getting answered over the next several practices.

The second countdown is financial.

The Steelers have a longstanding policy of not negotiating contracts once the regular season begins.

Pittsburgh opens against Atlanta on Sept. 13.

So unless something changes organizationally, that’s the deadline.

Porter and the Steelers can continue negotiating while he’s working his way back into practice, but there’s now a very finite amount of time to find common ground.

And based on everything we’ve seen so far, that doesn’t appear to be a particularly easy gap to close.

Returning to Practice Doesn’t Mean Porter Gave In

This is an important distinction.

It would be easy to look at Porter returning and assume the Steelers won the standoff.

I don’t think that’s necessarily true.

Porter can practice while still refusing to sign a contract he doesn’t believe adequately reflects his value.

And based on his comments Tuesday, he certainly doesn’t sound like someone who has decided to forget about the contract and simply play out the final year of his rookie deal.

That’s why his answer about playing without an extension matters so much.

If Porter had simply said, “Absolutely. I’ll be out there Week 1 regardless,” Pittsburgh’s leverage in these negotiations would seemingly increase.

The Steelers would know that even if they don’t reach an agreement, they’re still getting their No. 1 cornerback on the field this season.

Porter didn’t give them that assurance.

Instead, the possibility of him sitting out regular-season games remains on the table.

Whether he would actually follow through with that is another question entirely.

But as long as Porter isn’t willing to commit publicly to playing without an extension, there remains some urgency for Pittsburgh to get this figured out.

The Steelers Need Porter

This is ultimately the part of the situation I keep coming back to.

Everything the Steelers have done indicates that 2026 is about winning now.

• Aaron Rodgers is here.
• The Steelers have built around him offensively.
• They’ve invested heavily in their defense.
• They’ve constructed a roster that is supposed to compete right now because there’s absolutely no guarantee they’ll have anything resembling this quarterback situation in 2027.

And if that’s the plan, Joey Porter Jr. needs to be part of it.

Porter is 26 years old and has developed into Pittsburgh’s No. 1 cornerback. He’s one of the best young players on the roster and one of the most important pieces of this defense.

The Steelers are a better football team when he’s playing.

It’s that simple.

Yes, Asante Samuel Jr. gives Pittsburgh more depth at cornerback. Jalen Ramsey is back and practicing. The Steelers have options.

But none of that makes Porter expendable.

Not for a team trying to win now.

If Not Porter, Then Who?

There’s also a bigger organizational issue involved here.

Look at what’s happened with some of Pittsburgh’s other recent premium draft picks.

• Broderick Jones was the No. 14 overall pick in 2023. He’s now a Dallas Cowboy.
• Kaleb Johnson was the No. 83 overall pick in 2025. He’s already been traded to Green Bay.

The Steelers have had far too many premium picks fail to become long-term pieces of the organization.

Porter is the opposite.

• They drafted him.
• They developed him.
• He became a high-level NFL player.

This is what you’re trying to accomplish when you invest premium draft capital in someone.

Now comes the final step.

Can you retain him?

I don’t think Porter is the best cornerback in football. I don’t think he’s a top-five cornerback, either. I’d probably put him somewhere in the top 10.

So if Porter is demanding to be paid like the unquestioned best player at his position, I can understand Pittsburgh pushing back.

But there’s a lot of space between “highest-paid cornerback in football” and “we can’t find a way to get a deal done.”

The Steelers need to find that middle ground.

What Needs to Happen Before Week 1?

Porter’s return Tuesday was progress.

But it wasn’t a resolution.

Now the Steelers need to see him progress through his ramp-up period and get physically prepared to play.

At the same time, Porter, his representatives and the Steelers need to determine whether there’s a contract structure that makes sense for everyone before the organization’s self-imposed Week 1 deadline arrives.

If they find one, this entire saga can disappear pretty quickly.

Porter signs his extension, completes his ramp-up and lines up against Atlanta as Pittsburgh’s No. 1 cornerback.

If they don’t?

That’s where things get really interesting.

Because Porter has now made it clear that showing up to practice and agreeing to play without an extension aren’t necessarily the same thing.

The holdout may effectively be over.

The contract standoff isn’t.

And until Porter is both physically ready and willing to play, the Steelers still can’t say with certainty that one of their best defensive players will be on the field in Week 1.