Steelers CB Porter is looking to cash in on a booming market
All’s quiet on the Joey Porter Jr. contract front a little more than two weeks before the Steelers report to Saint Vincent College for training camp, and it might stay that way. The NFL’s other top corners from the 2023 draft class also are experiencing a lull in their negotiations.
Devon Witherspoon of Seattle and Christian Gonzalez of New England were drafted in the first round, while Porter was the first pick of the second round. All three have become top players at the position and they’re poised to cash in on a corner market that has skyrocketed in recent years.
When Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II reset the market in September 2024 - he signed a four-year, $96 million deal - it was viewed throughout the industry as a seismic signing. Now that contract looks like a bargain compared to the other corners who have inked deals since then.
Last year, Derek Stingley Jr. and Sauce Gardner signed deals for an average annual salary of $30 million only to be outdone in March by Trent McDuffie, the former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback who was signed to a $31 million-per-year deal by the Los Angeles Rams after he was acquired in a trade.
That’s a 29% increase at the top of the market in 22 months.
After winning the Super Bowl in February, the Seahawks quickly signed receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the No. 20 overall pick in the 2023 draft, to a deal worth $42 million per year - the largest contract in NFL history for a receiver. Meanwhile, talks with Witherspoon, the No. 5 overall pick in the same draft, have stalled.
The Steelers also got business done with two members of their 2023 draft class when they signed linebacker Nick Herbig and tight end Darnell Washington in the spring. Herbig’s deal is worth $25 million annually and placed him among the league’s top 15 earners at edge rusher despite being a part-time player during his first three seasons.
The spike in cornerback prices have given general managers across the league reason to pause. The Steelers very clearly value edge rushers more than corners.
They’re paying their top three edge rushers more than $80 million annually. It’s been a consistent aspect of their team building for years. Pass rushers have always been favored by the organization.
Where that leaves Porter is anyone’s guess, but they drafted him for a reason. For years, the Steelers had little success drafting corners and also struggled when signing them in free agency.
Signing Porter would be the right move in terms of their roster building, but the rising prices are making general manager Omar Khan’s job a bit more difficult.
It’s the first time in five years the Steelers are trying to re-sign one of their homegrown corners, and there is sticker shock given the way the market has been reshaped.
The previous time they re-signed a corner they drafted was 2020, when they signed Cameron Sutton to a two-year, $9 million deal. Before Sutton, you have to go all the way back to Cortez Allen for another homegrown corner to sign a second contract with the Steelers.
But there are plenty of reasons for the Steelers to do business with Porter, the most significant being they don’t have anyone on the roster who can replace him. They discovered last season Jalen Ramsey’s days as an outside corner were behind him, and the only other options currently are veteran Asante Samuel Jr. and rookie third-round pick Daylen Everette.
Additionally, there is financial motivation for the Steelers to sign Porter before other corners from the 2023 draft class. The expectation is for Witherspoon to surpass McDuffie and become the league’s highest-paid corner. Perhaps the same could happen with Gonzalez, too.
Porter won’t command the salary of Witherspoon or Gonzalez, but all future cornerback deals will skew the market.
Porter is entering the final year of his rookie contract and can become a free agent in March if the Steelers do not sign him before then. The Seahawks and Patriots have Witherspoon and Gonzalez at fixed prices in 2027 if they are unsuccessful in their negotiations this summer because they exercised the fifth-year options in their rookie contracts in May.
Witherspoon’s option is for more than $21 million, and Gonzalez’s is for $18 million. (Only first-round picks have options in their rookie contracts in the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA.)
The price will be much higher for the Steelers if they want to delay Porter’s route to free agency and place the franchise tag on him. The franchise tag is calculated by the average of the top five earners at the position.
The projection franchise tag tender for cornerbacks in 2027 is almost $24 million - the same salary as Surtain, who is widely regarded as the NFL’s top corner.
Don’t blame Porter. It’s the business side of the NFL.
One player becomes the highest paid at his position and is quickly bypassed by his peers.
The salary cap rose this year from $279 million in 2025 to $301 million. Over the past five years, the cap has increased on average 11% each year.
As the cap rises every year, so do the salaries, especially at premium positions such as cornerback. The question for the Steelers is how much are they willing to pay?
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This story was originally published July 10, 2026 at 3:48 PM.