{"id":286289,"date":"2026-09-15T05:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T05:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/286289\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T05:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T05:52:10","slug":"heyward-on-porter-joeys-gonna-be-a-pittsburgh-steeler-long-after-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/286289\/","title":{"rendered":"Heyward On Porter: ‘Joey’s Gonna Be A Pittsburgh Steeler Long After This’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cam Heyward didn\u2019t know whether Joey Porter would play yesterday<\/a>, but he\u2019s confident the fourth-year man isn\u2019t going anywhere. Dealing with a purported back injury as his period for negotiating a contract extension came and went, the talented cornerback sat out the Steelers\u2019 season opener. Whether and when he might return to the field is a matter for debate\u2014as are potential trade destinations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea\u201d, Heyward admitted on his Not Just Football podcast after the game<\/a>, whether Porter was going to play or not. \u201cObviously, we want Joey out there, but if he\u2019s not out there, we\u2019ve got to make sure that\u2019s not the reason why we can\u2019t play well\u201d.<\/p>\n

With Porter sidelined, Asante Samuel Jr. started in his place. Facing third-string QB Cooper Rush, the defense really stifled the Falcons\u2019 offense outside of RB Bijan Robinson, who had the majority of Atlanta\u2019s receiving yards.<\/p>\n

The Steelers drafted Joey Porter Jr. in the second round in 2023. He gradually rose to full-time starter by the middle of his rookie season, drawing one-on-one assignments. Coming off his best season in 2025, he expected to sign a massive contract extension this offseason.<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, Porter and the Steelers did not come to terms. According to reports, they will not be negotiating during the season<\/a>, as is the Steelers\u2019 long-standing policy. That means that, barring a trade or Porter sitting out the season, resulting in his contract tolling, he is slated to hit unrestricted free agency in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish it would\u2019ve got done, not my decision, but I still think he\u2019s going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler in the future, and I just want to support Joey the best way I can and hopefully he comes back to us whenever he\u2019s ready and we\u2019ll go from there\u201d, Heyward said of Porter after the game, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN<\/a>. As captured by Mark Kaboly,<\/a> he reiterated, \u201cI feel like Joey\u2019s still gonna be a Pittsburgh Steeler long after this. Hopefully they can just work that out\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cam Heyward on Joey Porter Jr: “I wish it would’ve got done, not my decision, but I still think he’s going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler in the future, and I just want to support Joey the best way I can and hopefully he comes back to us whenever he’s ready and we’ll go from there.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) September 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Porter mysteriously injured his back at the start of training camp, spending the entirety of it on the PUP list. The prevailing belief is that the process was a ruse to keep him shielded from scrutiny and media responsibilities during a contract \u201chold in\u201d. He has spoken to the media a couple times since the preseason ended, most notably expressing pessimism at the end of last week that a deal would get done.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear, given his time missed, whether Porter would have played yesterday even with a contract. But that is neither here or nor there at this point. What matters going forward is when he will play again\u2014and possibly in what uniform. Reports have indicated that the Steelers are willing to listen to trade offers.<\/p>\n

It seems unlikely, however, that a team would be able to satisfy both Pittsburgh\u2019s asking price and Porter\u2019s contract demands. And in a situation like this, one of the two won\u2019t cut it. At this point, there is little else to do but have the best season one can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cam Heyward didn\u2019t know whether Joey Porter would play yesterday, but he\u2019s confident the fourth-year man isn\u2019t going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59872,11859,3281,22892,73,75,74,995],"class_list":["post-286289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-brooke-pryor","tag-cameron-heyward","tag-joey-porter-jr","tag-mark-kaboly","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}