Cam Heyward can relate to Joey Porter Jr.'s ongoing contract stalemate with the Steelers

Ray Fittipaldo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sep 9, 2026

Published in Football

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PITTSBURGH — If there is one player in the Steelers’ locker room who can relate to what Joey Porter Jr. is experiencing right now, it’s Cam Heyward.

The 37-year old defensive end has been through five contract negotiations during his 16-year tenure with the team, and many of those came down to the wire. Last year, for example, Heyward’s contract was not revised until the day before the season opener.

With the clock ticking on Porter to get a deal done before Sunday’s opener against the Atlanta Falcons, Heyward’s advice to Porter comes from years of experience in sometimes contentious discussions.

“I just told him it’s a process,” Heyward said following Wednesday’s practice at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “He has to understand things are done differently here. Keep your head up, stay involved and stay ready because the worst thing is to not be ready. You have to show people you deserve the contract you get.”

The Steelers are not afraid to negotiate up until the final hours of their self-imposed deadline. They have a longstanding policy of not negotiating contracts once the regular season begins.

The philosophy goes back to the days when Dan Rooney was team president. He believed negotiations during the season could cause distractions for the team.

Porter and Heyward are not the only ones to be put to the test.

Troy Polamalu signed one of his new contracts at the airport in 2011 just before the team departed for the season opener in Baltimore. In 2021, T.J. Watt did not sign his new contract until after practice on a Thursday, three days before the Steelers opened the season in Buffalo.

Watt famously sacked Josh Allen twice and forced a fumble in a 23-16 upset victory.

The latest a player has signed this century was Cortez Allen, who came to terms an hour or two before midnight on Sept. 6, 2014, the eve of the opener against the Cleveland Browns at Acrisure Stadium.

Heyward was around to witness all of those deadline deals.

“I’d like for everyone to get paid,” Heyward said. “I’d like for everyone to be taken care of. I’m not going to act like I have every answer to every negotiation. As a player, selfishly, I’d like for everything to be done so we can focus and be locked in, but guys have to get their business done. It’s part of the game. You don’t run from that.”

Heyward also was on the team for the rare instance when the Steelers could not sign one of their star players before the season. In 2018, the year after the Steelers used the franchise tag on running back Le’Veon Bell, he decided to sit out the entire season.

Season-long holdouts have been rare for the Steelers. Before Bell, linebacker Mike Merriweather was the last player to skip an entire season in 1988. After the season ended, the Steelers traded Merriweather to the Minnesota Vikings for a first-round pick.

Under the current collective bargaining agreement between the NFL Players Association and the league, holdouts are almost extinct because they are so punitive toward the player. NFL teams fine players $50,000 per day once training camp begins.

That’s why Porter and many others have “held in” in recent years. Teams cannot fine players if they report to camp and remain with the team during negotiations.

Bell’s holdout definitely created a distraction for the Steelers, but Heyward said hold-ins are never held against players.

“We have so many good leaders,” said Heyward, who serves as the Steelers’ NFLPA representative. “We stay focused on the task at hand. We truly want everyone to maximize what they can do and their [earning] potential. This game isn’t for long. Every player has to do it. It’s just a fact.

“If you didn’t, shame on you. You wouldn’t be taking advantage of an opportunity you had at hand. I wish everything would be done in February, if it could.”

One of the potential sticking points in the Porter negotiation could be the Steelers’ ability to place the franchise tag on him after the season if they don’t sign him before Sunday. The tag next year for corners is expected to be around $23 million, while the going rate for the top players at the position is $30 million or more.

“It’s stupid,” Heyward said of the franchise tag. “It hampers players. Why should any team be able to take advantage of a player for one year? It’s used in negotiations. I think between player options and franchise tags, the way they control rookies, ... it’s kind of backward.”

The current collective bargaining agreement with the NFL expires in March 2031. When the players agreed to the deal in 2021, it was widely viewed as a win for NFL owners, and that remains the case.

“There are a lot of sticking points,” Heyward said. “There are a lot of things that have to be cleaned up. We’ll get there when we get there.”

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