Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. has been the target of trade speculation this summer as the former second round draft pick back in 2023 heads into the 2026 season on the final year of his rookie deal and with no extension close in sight.
However, according to the Pat McAfee Show’s Mark Kaboly, there has been little interest in Porter Jr. from other teams, and the Steelers have no desire to trade the former All-Rookie unless they receive an outlandish offer for his services.
“Did some snooping around and the Steelers haven’t gotten a single inquiry about trading Joey Porter Jr. and haven’t made any calls either, per multiple league sources. The Steelers have zero interest in trading Porter unless there is a crazy offer (2 first rounders or something like that). As for getting a deal done by Sept 13?” Kaboly reported on Friday, before adding a shrug emoji.
Although the former Penn State product has been a very solid corner over the course of his first three years in the NFL, and currently holds the CB1 role on the team opposite new free agent addition Jamel Dean, he is obviously not worth anything close to two first round draft picks.
The highest-paid corner in the NFL is currently the Seattle Seahawks’ Devon Witherspoon, who averages $33 million per year on a 4 year, $132 million deal signed this past month.
With the two parties being so far apart, it appears that Porter may be looking for money close to – and potentially even exceeding that of Witherspoon’s record-breaking deal.
For the Steelers, that will likely be an untenable sacrifice to make, given the big money contracts they have tied to edge rushers T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig, alongside other highly-compensated stars on the team such as wideout D.K. Metcalf.
We shall have to wait and see if a conclusion materializes in the forthcoming weeks.