Joey Porter Jr. contract trade
Joey Porter Jr. contract trade
A trade may be the most logical way out of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ ongoing Joey Porter Jr. saga, with the star cornerback sitting out games amid a contract standoff. While Porter is officially listed with a back injury, it’s widely speculated that the designation is merely a cover for his continued absence as he seeks a new deal.
Mike Florio shared several details on Porter’s trade market, including that at least one team has now called the Steelers about trading for Porter.
“We’re told that at least one team has called the Steelers about Porter. Whether that qualifies as a ‘serious inquiry’ is a matter of interpretation,” Florio wrote. “The Steelers apparently want to keep Porter, for now. If they start actively negotiating a trade, the situation could take on a life of its own and quickly become an inevitability.”
According to Florio, a source told him that the Steelers may be actively working to prevent a trade market from developing. The team’s preferred outcome remains keeping Porter in Pittsburgh and having him play out the 2026 season on his rookie contract after the two sides failed to reach an extension before the team’s in-season deadline. But the longer Porter remains sidelined, the more difficult that outcome becomes to envision.
How are they preventing a trade market from materializing? Apparently by asking for a king’s ransom in return.
“The issue for now, as we understand it, is that the Steelers want a lot. We’re told it’s in the neighborhood of a first-round pick or a second-round pick, plus a third-round pick,” Florio wrote.
If the Steelers truly value Porter at that high amount, some would argue they should have extended him for his asking price in the first place. But they may simply be floating that high asking price while holding out hope that Porter changes his mind and honors the final year of his contract.
Should the Steelers ultimately decide that trading Porter is the preferred path forward, it sounds like a market could materialize quickly. The lack of movement right now may have less to do with league-wide interest in Porter and more to do with Pittsburgh’s lofty asking price, assuming Florio’s report is accurate.
In other words, the Steelers may not be struggling to find a team that wants Porter. They may simply be struggling to find one willing to pay what Pittsburgh wants.
It’s also a difficult time of year to get maximum value in return for a player like Porter. The teams most likely to pursue a player of his caliber are generally contenders, but those teams didn’t necessarily budget for another significant contract after the season began.
Pittsburgh could have more leverage closer to the trade deadline in early November, when teams have a better idea of their needs and may have more incentive to make a move. The question is whether the Steelers can tolerate letting this situation linger that long with Porter continuing to sit out games.