Tensions rise in Pittsburgh as the star cornerback exits practice early, fueling questions about his health and a brewing contract dispute ahead of the Week 2 matchup.
The Pittsburgh Steelers sent a message that Joey Porter Jr. was healthy when they listed him as NIR/conditioning on Wednesday's Week 2 injury report.
NIR stands for non-injury related, a sign that Pittsburgh believes Porter is healthy enough to practice this week. He was made inactive last week amid a contract dispute and back injury, though Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy has sent mixed signals about the health status of the cornerback since last week.
Per Brook Pryor of ESPN, Porter left the field with a trainer during Thursday's practice.
"Joey Porter Jr. left the field with a trainer during the portion of practice open to media," Pryor posted on X. "Before that, he participated in some individual drills.
"Mike McCarthy said prior to practice that today’s plan was for Porter Jr. to increase his workload from yesterday."
There appears to be a little bit of cat and mouse going on here. As I discussed on Wednesday, the Steelers could eventually force the issue, including threatening to fine or suspend the fourth-year cornerback if he doesn't return to play.
Porter can respond to the Steelers saying he's healthy by in turn continuing to claim he's injured, and the two parties could get into a grievance over that.
A back injury is a fairly common injury in the league. For many players in the NFL, an MRI would show some kind of disc herniation in the back.
Before Thursday's practice, McCarthy praised Porter for the work that he did on Wednesday, and believed the cornerback was capable of doing more activity on Thursday.
“He’s scheduled to do more today than he did yesterday," McCarthy said.
Now, Porter appears to have suffered a setback at practice, and it remains to be seen how the Steelers respond to the matter.
The Steelers are currently getting prepped to play the New England Patriots and quarterback Drake Maye in Week 2. Ideally, Pittsburgh would like its corner to be healthy enough to play the defending AFC champs.
As of Thursday, there still appears to be more drama brewing between the Steelers and Porter.
