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Joey Porter Jr. is taking a step towards playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers after being inactive in the team’s Week 1’s win over the Atlanta Falcons.
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On September 16, Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters that Porter Jr. is set to be a full participant in practice after being limited all of last week.
“The plan is to move forward with Joey and see how much more he can do today,” McCarthy said.
Plan Coming to Fruition
Porter Jr. was held out of Pittsburgh’s season-opening victory by McCarthy as he got back up to speed and continued to recover from a back injury that resulted in him spending the entirety of training camp on the PUP list.
His contract talks, and lack of an agreement, have remained a notable storyline surrounding the team, especially with negotiations being broken off now that the regular season has begun.
During his postgame press conference following the Steelers’ win over Atlanta, though, McCarthy stated that Porter Jr. was, “finishing the ramp-up period” and was, “definitely ready to do more,” in practice.
On September 14, McCarthy stated that he was hoping to have a strong plan in place this week for Porter Jr.
“Hopefully we’ll have a good plan for him on Wednesday, and hopefully we’ll do more,” McCarthy said. “That’s the outlook. So yeah, hopefully we move forward with more volume of work. That would be my anticipation.”
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McCarthy also noted that he was focused on getting Pittsburgh’s No. 1 cornerback, “to get him to a spot no different than everybody else in training camp,” and it appears there’s tangible progress being made towards getting him back on the field for game action.
Will Porter Jr. Play Against Patriots?
With contract talks now on hold until next offseason, most of the speculation surrounding Porter Jr. in recent days has centered around his viability as a trade candidate and whether or not Pittsburgh would ever move him.
While the possibility of a deal in that sense can’t be discounted, the plan sure feels like it is for Porter Jr. to suit up and play rather than placing him on the back, at least given where things stand at the moment.
Porter Jr. being slated to practice as a full participant is a good sign for his status heading into the Steelers’ Week 2 matchup with the New England Patriots. There’s still a good amount of time left before the game, and he may not handle his usual workload if he’s active, but there does appear to be some optimism that he’ll be out there at Gillette Stadium.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/steelers/onsi as Steelers Receive Exciting Joey Porter Jr. News .
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This story was originally published September 16, 2026 at 9:07 AM.