Two weeks from this coming Wednesday the Pittsburgh Steelers will report to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA for the start of the teams annual training camp and with that, fans are starting to worry extensively if the team’s rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. will show up on time. Why? Well, because Porter has still yet to sign his rookie contract.
Porter, selected by the Steelers in the second round with the 32nd overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, is now the team’s only unsigned selection as of a few weeks ago. Quite honestly, that’s not a huge surprise as it certainly seems like he and the player selected right after him, Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis, are currently in a quasi-standoff of sorts as it relates to percentage of guaranteed money in the fourth and final years of their respective deals.
This quasi-standoff between Porter and Levis is probably heavily slanted to Levis’ side as he and his agent representation are likely waiting to see how high of a percentage of year-four money that Porter gets in his deal. With Porter being the 32nd overall selection this year, yet him being a second-round pick, the notion is and has been that he and his agents will push hard to get a higher-than-trending percentage of the final year of his rookie contract fully guaranteed.
If we rewind to several weeks ago, we see that the Detroit Lions signed second-round tight end Sam LaPorta to his four-year rookie contract. LaPorta was the 34th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and his rookie contract included right at 20-percent of his year-four money being fully guaranteed. Shortly before LaPorta signed, the Las Vegas Raiders signed tight end Michael Mayer, the 35th overall pick in the NFL Draft, and as part of his rookie contract, 15-percent of his year-four money was fully guaranteed.
Based on the way those second round selections have been trending when it comes to guaranteed money in year-four, one would think that Levis would get 25 percent of his year-four money guaranteed and Porter get 30 percent of his year-four money guaranteed. That, however, isn’t likely to be the end result and especially with Levis being a quarterback and Porter being an unusual case of a 32nd overall selection yet drafted in the second round.
Even if Levis does wind up signing before Porter does, his percentage of year-four guaranteed money in his deal, plus an additional five-percent, would then become the floor for Porter and his representation when it comes to negotiations with the Steelers. If I’m Levis, I try my best to outwait Porter and then ask for five percent less than he signed for. See why this is a quasi-standoff?
I recently talked about Porter’s situation with NFL rookie contract expert Daniel Salib not long after LaPorta and Mayer both signed their rookie contracts to get his take on the Porter and Levis’ situations.
“[Porter Jr.] in a tricky spot where the 32nd pick is usually the last pick in the first round and last year that pick was fully guaranteed all four years,” Salib told me. “Through no fault of his own, 32 is now the first pick in the second round, but I think his agents have good grounds to push those fourth year guarantees pretty high. He’s got some pretty good agents so I think Porter Jr. will be one of the last second rounders to sign and it could take a bit of time due to the peculiar situation.”
It’s been three weeks since I had that chat with Salib and yet here we are now with Porter and Levis still both unsigned.
Porter, by the way, is represented by Athletes First and his agents are reportedly Andre Odom and David Mulugheta. According to Sports Business Journal, Athletes First represents the most first-round picks in the 2023 NFL Draft with eight and they also lead in second round representation with four selections, of which Porter is obviously one of them. They can probably be expected to push the limits when it comes to Porter’s year-four guarantees.
“I think 75% could definitely be the agreement if the Steelers are willing to go that high,” Salib told me when it comes to Porter’s year-four guarantee percentage. “It depends what stance Omar Khan wants to take on this issue. It wouldn’t be a matter of breaking precedent in this instance because it hasn’t really happened before, so it’d be more so setting the precedent. 75 percent being fully guaranteed pretty much virtually guarantees all the money, so I think it’s a fair compromise to an odd situation.”
So, what does this all mean? Well, it means we continue to sit and wait. Obviously, the Steelers would like to have Porter signed before the start of training camp. Even so, I expect Khan and company to hardline their side of the year-four guarantees as much as possible. Personally, I still expect Porter to be signed by the time the Steelers hold their first training camp practice but within that prediction, the signing might not happen until the 11th hour. Or even the 12th.
In closing, and if it makes any of you reading this feel any better, it appears as though 25 selections in the 2023 NFL Draft still remain unsigned at the time of this post. Eight of those 25 unsigned rookies were first round selections while 13 others were picked in the second round. In fact, all nine players selected from 40th to 48th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft remain unsigned at the time of this post.
