The Pittsburgh Steelers are approaching their deadline to sign Joey Porter Jr. to a contract extension before negotiations cease at the beginning of the regular season. Until now, they hadn’t even put a formal offer on his agent’s desk. According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, that has now changed.
“We have said that there hasn’t been an offer made. Update: there had been an offer made,” Garafolo said via NFL Network’s The Insiders. “I am told via sources that the Steelers have made an offer. It is not good enough for this one to be deemed close, but the Steelers are showing a willingness to engage, which means we’ve got a couple days for both sides to figure out what are the right numbers to get a deal done.
“There is a lot of work to be done, from my understanding. I would not call it imminent. I would not call it close, but I will call it an actual negotiation now.”
Not only has the regular-season deadline accelerated the process, but New England Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez’s extension early Tuesday morning cleared up one of the last major unknowns in the negotiation process.
Porter has no leverage without the possibility of Gonzalez resetting the market significantly higher than Devon Witherspoon did last month. If the Steelers made an offer Porter doesn’t like, they may be back to square one with the “impasse” head coach Mike McCarthy mentioned two weeks ago.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler called it the most complicated contract situation in the NFL right now. He clarified that Porter isn’t asking to reset the market, but wants to be “adjacent” to that conversation. The top six cornerbacks are all making at least $30 million APY now, with the most recent deals offering large guarantees. Porter could see both as sticking points.
Formal contract offers require paperwork, time, and effort. Former NFL GM Doug Whaley explained on The Fan this morning that it isn’t unusual for teams to hold formal offers until the last moment when they’re certain on the terms.
If so, the Steelers might wait to make their best offer, giving Porter little wiggle room to negotiate.
He lacks leverage other than threatening a holdout. Even doing that would lose money in the process via fines and game checks and would stand to gain nothing. The Steelers won’t budge on their in-season negotiations rule.
His last lever to pull, if it comes down to it, is a public trade request. If the Steelers aren’t willing to grant him one, a holdout would have at least some leverage.
On a positive note, Joey Porter Jr. and the Steelers are at least negotiating.