In less than five days, the Pittsburgh Steelers will begin their 2026 regular season, which will effectively end any hope of getting Joey Porter Jr. signed to a new deal thanks to the team's policy of not negotiating contracts mid-season. But we at Steelers Wire sought to predict a potential contract extension that could arrive before then.
Supported by recent cornerback contracts that have continuously reset the market at the position, we at Steelers Wire project Porter could sign a four-year, $128 million extension with approximately $101 million guaranteed, averaging $32 million per season, and here's why.
Taking a look at the most recent contract extensions at cornerback, such as Christian Gonzalez, Devon Witherspoon, and Trent McDuffie's
deals, the guaranteed money falls somewhere between 75% and 80% of the total contract value.
We’ve seen McDuffie, Devon Witherspoon, and Gonzalez all become the highest-paid cornerbacks at the time of their extensions, continuously resetting the market at the position with numbers like $31 million, $33 million, and $33.75 million, respectively. All three players also signed four-year deals.
Using their contracts once again as a reference, we assumed that Porter's potential deal will fall between $31 million and $33.75 million annually, including at least 75% of the total contract value being guaranteed.
If the Steelers offered Porter a contract like the one mentioned in our prediction, one would assume a deal would get done. But the clock is ticking, and the team's reported offer isn't close to what Porter is looking for.
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This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Predicting Joey Porter Jr.'s massive Steelers contract extension before Week 1
