Of course, Joey Porter Jr. said he’ll play Week 1 without a new contract. Well, maybe.
Whether he meant it or not, Porter was posturing and laying the groundwork for a potential in-season holdout if he does not get a new contract by the start of the regular season in 11 days.
Only Cam Heyward, T.J. Watt, and Mason Rudolph remain from the Steelers’ locker room that endured Le’Veon Bell’s disastrous 2018 holdout. One of their former teammates is now pleading with Porter not to make the same mistake.
“I’m just happy to see him back, man. I just hope he stays,” Vince Williams said via SNR Drive. “I don’t want him to pull a Le’Veon Bell situation. I got to live through that, and I hope he doesn’t do it, man. I was right there. It doesn’t work, Joey. Please, just play. Don’t hold in. Just play, brother.”
Joey Porter Jr. was frequently around in the locker room that year because his father was the outside linebackers coach at the time. He likely heard the chatter as teammates went from supporting Bell’s right to negotiate a contract to openly bashing his decision in the media.
The 2018 Steelers had big goals. Losing their star running back for the season over a contract dispute tore apart a locker room that should have been capable of competing for a Super Bowl.
With all due respect to Porter, Bell had a much stronger case for his holdout. By 2018, he had a multi-year track record as the league’s best running back. If it wasn’t for a major injury in 2015, he likely would have made four straight Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams. By the second time the Steelers franchise tagged Bell, he decided enough was enough.
Porter doesn’t have those kinds of accolades yet, and he hasn’t endured the franchise tag once, let alone twice. Holding out into the season can work for other teams, but the Steelers have a hard rule of no contract talk once the season begins. The only way a holdout adds leverage is if it’s accompanied by a trade request that the Steelers are refusing to listen to.
Judging by the fact that Porter is slowly returning to practice, with most of his offseason work coming during Wednesday’s practice, it doesn’t appear things are heading in that direction. But he didn’t rule it out when asked, and various insiders have confirmed it’s being considered by his camp.