{"id":968654,"date":"2026-07-30T08:27:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T08:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/968654\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T08:27:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T08:27:16","slug":"dulac-joey-porter-jr-s-spring-hold-in-did-not-sit-well-with-steelers-new-coaching-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/968654\/","title":{"rendered":"Dulac: Joey Porter Jr.’s Spring Hold-In ‘Did Not Sit Well’ With Steelers’ New Coaching Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

First impressions matter. They can shape how you\u2019re viewed long after the initial interaction. According to Gerry Dulac, Joey Porter Jr.\u2019s first impression with the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 new coaching staff wasn\u2019t a particularly good one.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did not do himself any favors by coming in with a new coaching staff and not doing anything in the spring,\u201d Dulac said via FOX Sports Pittsburgh<\/a> during his nightly training camp review. \u201cThat did not sit well with them. I don\u2019t know that that\u2019s going to affect the contract that he\u2019s gonna sign. He\u2019s gonna get a nice piece of money, and he should because they can\u2019t afford not to sign him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porter was present, but did not participate in practice throughout the spring. It\u2019s become an annual tradition for players looking for new contracts around the league. The Steelers went through this with Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt over the last two years. But the difference this time is the new coaching staff.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understandable why Porter followed the new league norm to protect his leverage, but he doesn\u2019t have the same history with this coaching staff that previous Steelers players did. Heyward and Watt had years of built-up trust and production that allowed them to navigate those situations differently.<\/p>\n

Dulac has been consistent in his reporting that the Steelers don\u2019t view Porter as a top-five cornerback in the NFL. That could create a difficult negotiation if Porter\u2019s camp values him differently, something Porter himself has confirmed during podcast appearances<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Denzel Ward reset the market<\/a> on Tuesday with $31.1 million APY and healthy guaranteed cash flow. Christian Gonzalez and Devon Witherspoon are expected to push that even higher in the coming months. If both beat Porter to the punch, that would make six cornerbacks signed to over $30 million APY before Porter gets an extension.<\/p>\n

Given the nature of a rapidly-inflating salary cap, most players deemed anywhere close to the top of their position reset the market or come close to it, and chances are their deal will look cheap in a couple years. Just look at Patrick Surtain II, who received $24 million APY just a couple years ago as the top corner in the league.<\/p>\n

Where will Porter\u2019s number land? Dulac is thinking much lower than most expect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s gonna get $25 million. This idea that he was gonna set the market. They do not believe that he is a top-five corner and this idea that he\u2019s a shutdown corner. They don\u2019t believe that,\u201d Dulac said.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s how each side feels, it\u2019s easy to see why Omar Khan said Tuesday that no contract extensions are imminent<\/a>. The gap between what Porter and the Steelers believe he\u2019s worth could make a deal difficult to reach before the season, potentially forcing a franchise tag option next offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First impressions matter. They can shape how you\u2019re viewed long after the initial interaction. According to Gerry Dulac,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":968655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[39],"tags":[62933,24895,1653,1232,24898,62,939,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-968654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-970-am-fox-sports-radio","tag-gerry-dulac","tag-joey-porter-jr","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-post-gazette","tag-sports","tag-trending","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117007983960945992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=968654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/968655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=968654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=968654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=968654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}