Joey Porter Jr contract negotiations

If you look up the INT and forced fumbles leaders from 2025 you will not find few "top" CB in the listings.
Porter and his agent are likely looking at more "analytics" stats like forced incompletions, win rate, and coverage snaps per target.

What do the Steelers value? I guess that will be the question.

 

Im going to be honest here.
If they don't sign JPJ .....I will be personally more upset with losing him than anyone I can think of in a very, very ,very long time.
JMO ,but You don't let good CBs, or Qbs go, and again JMO the two hardest positions to find great ones at.

 

The 49ers Jimmy Johnson was considered the best CB in the NFL during the 70's. His HOF career lasted 16 years but he averaged less than 3 picks a year because no one dared to throw the ball on his side of the field. On the other hand the Cowboys Everson Wall was always among the league leader in interceptions because he was so bad in coverage that he was bombarded with passes in his direction, so naturally he had a lot greater chance of getting a pick now and then.

 

I’m not one of those guys who memorizes every player’s contract. Ask me who the top 5 highest-paid cornerbacks were in 2024 and I’d have to look it up — same as most fans.That said, I like Joey Porter Jr. a lot. He’s got the size, the physicality, and the pedigree. He is a little flag prone. But I do think he needs to start making more big plays. He’s averaging one interception per year so far. Give me 2–3 picks a season consistently, plus a forced fumble, and we’re talking about a true shutdown corner that can give us the ball back.

Yes he is very productive in yards given up and TD's surendered. But he also draws a bit too many flags.

On the money side: The franchise tag for cornerbacks in 2026 is $21.16 million. That feels like a realistic anchor point for Porter right now. I wouldn’t be against giving him a deal structured around that number. A base salary close to the tag, with meaningful incentive bonuses that can push him over $21.15M (or even a bit higher) if he performs.

For example bonuses:

2+ interceptions
1+ forced fumble
Playoff appearances / All-Pro consideration, etc....

That way the Steelers protect themselves if the big plays don’t materialize, but Porter gets paid like a top corner if he starts producing like one. That would be a Win-win.

 

I think I was not clear enough with my point.

If you look up the 2025 stats and then look up the top CB contract values...what you are advocating for does not match up. Top CBs are not littering the INT list, the tackles list, or the forced fumbles list. They just don't see the ball enough. And I should be clear...I do not mean NONE....I just mean not many.

https://overthecap.com/position/cornerback
https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/most-interceptions-by-cb-in-nfl-2025-season

Porter's penalties were actually lower than many of this comparable peers (Surtain, Stingley, Mitchell, etc): https://www.nflpenalties.com/position/defensive-back?year=2025&view=players

Porter is already producing like a top CB. He's gonna get paid by someone like one. I hope it is the Steelers.

 

Yes.

 

Players do not have to sign the franchise tag. Then, you have a player sitting out while making $20M+ with a 'sore hammy'.


Why make things ugly. Sign him to a new deal or trade him now.

 

You can't compare a multi-year deal to the franchise tag.

The franchise tag is only 1 year, so neither side has to worry about inflation of the cap (~ 20% a year). And the franchise tag for CBs will be kind of low because there's a big drop after the first 3 guys. And I think several of the top 5 contracts are old. So the tag number will be a "deal" relative to market value. I think this is more true at CB than other important positions (like OT or Edge).

And the franchise tag number is pretty much already going to be locked in for the first 2 new years of the deal. Because they'll use the tag on him if he doesn't sign. I don't think we have any other reasonable franchise tag candidates coming up next offseason...I think you can still only tag one guy per season.

Right now putting contract numbers together probably goes something like this.

• We have you cost controlled for this season and the next two after that.
• This season doesn't matter because contracts are about new years. But it gives the team a little leverage because Porter would get money now without risking a career ending injury making it so he never sees a tag or 2nd contract. This might matter less to Porter than the average NFL player because he comes from wealth and it sounds like Porter Sr. didn't spend all his money (i.e., on hookers and blow).
• So the team says: I won't pay you more than the tag value for the first new year and the tag value + 20% for the second year (that's how pay works if you get tagged in 2 consecutive years).
• They need to come up with some value for the following years. But the 2nd year value +20% is probably the starting place. Here the player would only be keeping up with cap inflation, so they would probably ask for more than that. Since these would now be true UFA years, they come at a premium.
• They also need to come up with the "structure" of the contract. Like how much guarantees (especially fully guarantees). And whether the payment is front loaded or back loaded.

I bet there are more things, but it seems like these are the big ones.

With this framework, you could come up with an estimate of what his value would be. Dave at the Depot does this all the time and tends to be really close to the real numbers.

I went through the exercise in a previous thread. I think I got something like $28-29MM if it was a 4 year deal. And probably $30MM if it was a 4 year deal. But there's a good amount of guess work once you get into the numbers for the 3rd new year (again the first 2x new years are basically locked in at the franchise tag value).

There's no real benefit for the team to do more than 5 years because that's how long you can prorate the signing bonus for. And honestly, when they talk about SB money it might be 5 total years, not just 5 new years. I think that would make more sense. And would explain why it seems like most new contracts seem to include 4 new years instead of 5 (when they are negotiated with 1 year left).

 

I think I heard somewhere that there are multiple CBs who are going to sign this offseason (similar situations to Porter).

If that's the case, it's probably good to assume that the tag could see a significant jump in 2027 (which is when we'd tag him).