Joey Porter Jr. is heading into the final year of his rookie contract, and the two PFSN analysts weighing his future didn’t hesitate. Pay him. Pay him now, before the cornerback market sets the price for Pittsburgh.
On the PFSN Football Debate Club, host Cam Mellor asked Nick Farabaugh and Jacob Infante whether the Steelers should extend Porter or let him play out his deal and see where the chips fall. Both reached the same answer without much daylight between them.
Why the Steelers Should Pay Joey Porter Jr. Now
Farabaugh built his case on production that has only climbed. “You have to pay him,” he said. “You look at this guy, he hasn’t allowed a touchdown in two years on the field. He’s improved in run defense and tackling. He’s become better with his own coverage. His zone eyes have gotten much better. He’s just taken leaps every year.”
The coverage record backs the praise, and then some. Porter allowed zero touchdowns in 2025 and has surrendered just one in his three-year career, a disputed score in his first career start back in Week 8 of 2023. He has since gone more than 1,400 coverage snaps without giving one up, the longest active streak among cornerbacks. In 2025, he added 14 passes defended and held opposing quarterbacks to a 56.2 passer rating when they threw his way.
Farabaugh’s other point, the one Mellor latched onto, was about the penalties that once defined Porter’s reputation. “He cut his penalties in half last year,” Farabaugh said. “That was the biggest thing you talked about with Joey Porter, penalties, holding. Well, now they’re out of the window.” The improvement was real and then some. Porter went from a league-high 17 penalties in 2024 to five in 2025.
Infante landed in the same place and framed Porter as a rare physical profile. “I think they should pay him,” he said. “He’s a shutdown corner in every sense of the way. You put him on the top wide receiver on the opposing team and he’s going to shut them down essentially.”
The Profile Pittsburgh Can’t Replace
Infante’s argument leaned on what Porter is built like, not just what he produces. “You don’t have 6’2 guys with that 4.4 speed who also have the coverage instincts that he has,” he said. “That’s a really tough physical and mental profile to match. He’d make a ton of money on the open market.”
That open-market reality is the heart of the urgency. Porter was the 32nd overall pick in 2023, the first selection of the second round, which means he carries no fifth-year option. His rookie deal expires after the 2026 season, and Pittsburgh can’t lean on a cheap extra year the way teams do with true first-rounders. The choice is binary: extend him soon or risk bidding against the entire league in a market where premier corners reset the ceiling every spring.
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Mellor agreed with the verdict and added a wrinkle on leverage. He suggested Porter’s national profile hasn’t fully caught up to his tape, which could let the Steelers sign him before he commands a true market reset at the position. “Sign him now,” Mellor said. “Set it and forget it.”
Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt anchor a defense that is getting older by the year. Porter is the rare young building block already producing at a star level, and every offseason Pittsburgh waits is another offseason the price climbs. The debate wasn’t whether he’s worth it. It was why the front office hasn’t already gotten it done.
