Joey Porter Jr.’s future with the Steelers is officially up in the air following Pittsburgh’s final injury report for Week 2
We now know Joey Porter Jr.’s status for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots, and it leaves you to wonder if we have seen the end of his time playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Joey Porter Jr. has been officially ruled out on Friday afternoon’s injury report, and his future with the Pittsburgh Steelers looks murkier than ever. The third-year cornerback will miss another game, but the real story extends far beyond this week’s availability. A report from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler surfaced Friday with a damning revelation:
Joey Porter Jr. no longer wants to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
So what exactly happens next? The truth is, nobody seems to know the answer to that question.
Joey Porter Jr. 2025 stats
14 games played
- 52 total tackles
- 1 sack
- 1 interception
What the injury report tells us
Porter’s absence doesn’t change much schematically for Pittsburgh. Asante Samuel Jr. and Jamel Dean were the starting corners last week, and that should continue this week without interruption.
The more pressing name to watch on the injury report is wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. He has a foot injury and went in the wrong direction throughout the week, going from limited on Wednesday to not practicing on both Thursday and Friday. He is officially listed as questionable, but when a player goes in reverse on the participation order, that is never a good sign. The Steelers will have to wait until Sunday’s inactives to determine whether Pittman plays.
On the positive side of things, starting left tackle Troy Fautanu trended the opposite way. He was dealing with an ankle injury and went from a did not practice on Wednesday to limited on Thursday to a full participant on Friday. Fautanu is also listed as questionable, but his trajectory is far more encouraging than Pittman’s.
The Joey Porter Jr. saga has no clear ending
The question everyone wants answered is simple: what happens next with Joey Porter Jr.? A lot of fans probably watched the Lions get decimated on defense Thursday night. Detroit has been a hot-button team when it comes to a potential Porter trade, and that performance only fueled the speculation further.
But I don’t think the Steelers know what comes next. I don’t think Joey Porter Jr. knows. And I don’t think any other team in the NFL knows, either.
He’s not playing this week. I don’t know why he would play next week. And I have to be honest: I don’t know if Joey Porter Jr. ever plays again for the Steelers.
This situation has moved well beyond a week-to-week injury designation. When a player signals through a national reporter that he no longer wants to be where he is, a resolution becomes inevitable — whether that means a trade to Detroit or somewhere else entirely. The Lions’ defensive struggles could accelerate talks, but nothing appears imminent from either side.
