Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. dealt with contract issues all offseason. While nothing came to fruition, Porter was inactive in Week 1 due to his conditioning.
On Monday, Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy revealed whether Porter could be on track to play in Week 2, and it certainly sounds possible.
“Hopefully we’ll have a good plan for him on Wednesday, and hopefully we’ll do more,” McCarthy said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “That’s the outlook. So yeah, hopefully we move forward with more volume of work. That would be my anticipation.”
“My concern for Joey, obviously, is to get him to a spot no different than everybody else in training camp,” McCarthy said. “The first players that go through that first ramp-up period that are not ready to go — they don’t participate fully in a padded practice. So I don’t really see this any different than that.”
Porter Jr., the son of franchise legend Joey Porter, was the Steelers’ second-round pick in 2023, but his future with the team remains uncertain after a long contract standoff.
McCarthy insisted that the contract standoff has nothing to do with Porter not playing. He is expected to undergo a “ramp-up” period, and if all goes well, Porter should be in line to play in Week 2 against the New England Patriots.
As for the Steelers, McCarthy registered his first win as Pittsburgh’s head coach. It came via a 20-13 win over the Atlanta Falcons at Heinz Field.
