The Pittsburgh Steelers have still yet to sign one of their 2023 draft picks, cornerback Joey Porter Jr., but that could change in the next few hours or days as the player selected right behind him, Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis, has now reportedly inked his four-year rookie contract.
According to Cameron Wolfe of the NFL Network on Saturday morning, Levis, the 33rd overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has signed his rookie deal. It’s a four-year contract worth $9.54 million with a 3.94 million signing bonus. Jim Wyatt, who covers the Titans for the team’s official website, has also verified the Levis signing.
The holdup in Levis signing has likely been related to guaranteed money percentages in the fourth and final year of his rookie contract. In fact, Levis’ side was probably waiting to sign to first see the percentage of fourth-year money that Porter received. That’s why it’s a good bet that we’ll hear about Porter signing in the next few hours or days.
The holdup with Porter is probably mostly related to him being the 32nd overall selection this year despite being a second-round pick. Normally, 32nd overall selections are in the first round and those rookie deals are now fully guaranteed through all four years. Porter, and Levis for that matter, were likely angling for higher percentages of their fourth years.
Based on the way the previously signed second round selections have been trending when it comes to guaranteed money in year-four, one would think that Levis would have been on track, at a minimum, to get 25 percent of his year-four money guaranteed and for Porter to get 30 percent of his year-four money guaranteed. We don’t know yet what percentage of year-four money is guaranteed in Levis’ deal.
Several first and second round selections signed their rookie contracts on Thursday and Friday so the list of unsigned members of the 2023 NFL Draft class has shortened significantly. We’ll now wait and see if Porter inks his rookie contract by the end of the weekend, or at least by the end of Monday.
The Steelers report to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA on Wednesday with their first practice Thursday.
