After Joey Porter Jr.'s breakout campaign in 2025, it became clear that the Pittsburgh Steelers need to ink him to a long-term contract extension. Porter, the No. 32 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, proved to be a lockdown cornerback last season who could travel with No. 1 wide receivers.
Though Porter can play press-man coverage with the best in the business, he unfortunately has one glaring weakness: he lacks ball skills in the worst way.
Porter has dropped effortless interceptions early in his career and doesn't have natural hands at the position. This has led to missed opportunities to flip the field for the Steelers. As a result, Porter has just three interceptions in his first three seasons, despite making 41 starts (47 games) and being on the field for 2,672 defensive snaps.
Sadly, this won't help Pittsburgh secure a discount on Porter's next contract.
Two recent cornerback contracts prove that interception totals hardly played a factor in record-setting deals.
Sauce Gardner and Trent McDuffie's contracts set the framework for a Pittsburgh Steelers extension with Joey Porter Jr.
Last offseason, the New York Jets signed Sauce Gardner to a record-breaking four-year, $120.4 million contract before he was traded to the Indianapolis Colts before the deadline. This offseason, Trent McDuffie topped Gardner's deal with a four-year, $124 million contract after getting traded from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Los Angeles Rams.
Both of these cornerbacks are making upward of $30 million per season... and based on the data, Porter's team could be seeking this kind of money on a contract extension.
Apart from being the league's two most expensive cornerbacks and both getting traded months apart, Gardner and McDuffie share something else in common—both have pedestrian takeaway production.
In four seasons (59 starts), Gardner has earned just three career interceptions. Likewise, McDuffie has earned just three picks in his first four years in the league (56 starts). Obviously, their lack of interceptions was not factored into their contracts.
The same can be said for Porter.
While some assume Porter's lack of ball skills could have him falling just below the top cornerbacks, he has the same number of interceptions as the two top-billed CBs in the league, despite playing one fewer season.
Agents are wising up in their negotiating tactics. They know that takeaways can be fluky, and that this isn't how CB success should be measured. Now more than ever, advanced metrics and data are being weighed in contract discussions. And when it comes to this, Porter's resume is as impressive as anyone's.
In 2025, Porter was Pro Football Network's highest-graded cornerback in the NFL, allowing just a 56.2 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks while forcing a 23.3 percent forced incompletion rate.
According to Pro Football Focus, Porter earned a higher coverage grade than both Gardner and McDuffie last season while allowing a lower completion percentage and passer rating than both players. Quite frankly, the advanced data shows that Porter was one of the best and most efficient CBs in the business last season.
There is concern among some Steelers fans that Porter could revert to the version of himself we saw in 2024, and if that happens, Pittsburgh could regret spending this much on the young CB. However, based on his 2025 performance, it's hard to argue that he shouldn't be one of the top-paid cornerbacks in the NFL.
Pittsburgh Steelers fans need to brace themselves for a potential record-setting contract. There are better cornerbacks in the NFL than Joey Porter Jr., but the league's two highest-billed CBs prove that Porter could be next in line to break the bank.
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