The Joey Porter Jr. hold in continues in Pittsburgh, with no end in sight.
On Monday, Steelers coach Mike McCarthy said that the player and the team remain at odds regarding a new contract.
Porter hasn’t practiced during training camp. He remains on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
“I learned this in my early years as a head coach, you have to separate the business and football,” McCarthy said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “Sometimes it’s easier [than] others. This is a challenge for both Joey and us because we’re first-year staff. We’ve seen them play, compete against Joey.
“I would love the opportunity to coach Joey Porter. I know our defensive guys would love the opportunity. So we’re at an impasse right here, and you got to respect that. Every one of us has a contract. The organization, they have beliefs and so forth. But yeah, that’s just kind of where we are.”
Porter, a first-round pick in 2023, is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He’s due to make $3.924 million this year.
While the hold in has become in recent years a far cheaper (and in turn far more popular) alternative to a holdout, at some point it’s time to go to work, in theory. Last year, however, once it became clear to the Cowboys that linebacker Micah Parsons wouldn’t play at all in 2025 due to a back injury, Dallas traded him.
The Steelers could play hardball with Porter, if his position lingers into Week 1. Or they could become exasperated and trade Porter to a new team.
And Week 1 becomes even more important, given that the Steelers have a longstanding policy of not re-doing contracts when the season starts. So they’ll have a decision to make about how to handle Porter, if a deal doesn’t get done by Week 1 — and if Porter declines to play.
Steelers Clips
The Steelers have made a couple of signings on Monday.
Pittsburgh announced the club has signed cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau and running back Alex Tecza.
Both players entered the league as undrafted free agents in the spring. Guilbeau played his college ball at Texas while Tecza was at the Naval Academy.
Additionally, the Steelers formally activated defensive back Jalen Ramsey off of the physically unable to perform list.
As a corresponding move, the team placed Israel Mukuamu on injured reserve. Pittsburgh already had a roster spot open after letting go of kicker Laith Marjan.
The Steelers are getting a couple of players back on the practice field this week.
Via multiple reporters, head coach Mike McCarthy said on Monday that defensive back Jalen Ramsey will be activated off the physically unable to perform list. Additionally, first-round rookie offensive lineman Max Iheanachor will also return to practice on Monday.
Ramsey has been sidelined by a knee injury suffered during the team’s offseason program.
The veteran DB started all 17 games for the Steelers last season, recording 88 total tackles, eight passes defensed, an interception and 3.0 sacks.
Iheanachor suffered a neck/shoulder injury earlier in training camp.
The Steelers will play the Bills for their preseason finale on Thursday night.
Mason Rudolph is the second-best quarterback on the Steelers’ roster. The team lists him as the backup quarterback to Aaron Rodgers.
While Rudolph is the team’s only experienced backup, the Steelers are set on keeping young quarterbacks Will Howard and Drew Allar on their 53-player roster, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
It seems unlikely that either would clear waivers to return to the team’s practice squad.
Dulac’s report came after the Steelers were shut out in a preseason game for the first time since a 17-0 loss to the Eagles in 2016. Howard and Allar both had disappointing outings after promising starts to the preseason, but Dulac said the decision to keep both came before the game and didn’t change with anything that happened Friday night.
In the 17-0 loss to the Jets, Howard was 10-of-15 for 74 yards and two interceptions and Allar went 11-of-23 for 110 yards and three sacks.
“Those two turnovers will really make it sour,” said Howard, who started the game and played the entire first half. “There were some good things out there, but if you don’t win the game and turn the ball over, that’s unacceptable.”
Rudolph didn’t play as the Steelers know what they have in the ninth-year veteran, but do they have room to keep four quarterbacks? Or maybe a better question is: Can they afford to go into the season without a veteran backup behind a 42-year-old starter?
The Steelers’ crowded house at quarterback may now have reason to become less crowded.
Will Howard, a sixth-round pick in 2025 who performed well in his NFL debut a week ago, threw two interceptions on Friday night in a 17-0 loss to the Jets.
For the night, Howard completed 10 of 15 passes for 74 yards in four drives. The two efforts that didn’t end in turnovers were three-and-outs.
“I felt really comfortable in the pocket,” Howard said after the game, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “I felt like I was going through my progressions well, especially early first and second down, and felt good about how I played, but those two turnovers will really, really make it sour.”
Howard took the blame for the misfires.
“Both of them were unfortunate,” Howard said. “Just can’t happen. Running a shallow cross and kind of drift a little bit and the safety jumped it. Just got to see in front of that. There’s other little things on the play. . . . And that second one just got undercut and just got to put it out in front of him.”
Coach Mike McCarthy, however, seemed to suggest that receiver Roman Wilson — the target for both throws — may have been partially at fault.
“There’s always plays that are cleaner than others and those two plays were not clean,” McCarthy said.
Rookie third-rounder Drew Allar handled the second half, completing 11 of 23 passes for 110 yards. He was sacked three times.
But Allar’s spot is secure, given the investment of a second-day pick in acquiring him. With four quarterbacks on the roster, the first one to go likely will be Howard. Unless the Steelers decide to carry four on the 53-man roster.
The silver lining from Howard’s struggles could be that it could be easier to slip him through waivers and add him to the practice squad. If the Steelers don’t want to risk losing Howard, the only alternative to keeping four would be to release primary backup Mason Rudolph (who wouldn’t be subject to waivers) with a wink-nod understanding that he’d promptly be re-signed to the practice squad and elevated every week to serve as the No. 2 quarterback behind Aaron Rodgers.
Jets starting quarterback Geno Smith made his preseason debut on Friday night.
He had an effective, efficient drive, leading the Jets on a 10-play, 69-yard scoring drive.
Smith went 7-for-7 for 65 yards and a touchdown, a 13-yard throw to Jelani Woods. He hit six different receivers, including left guard Dylan Parham on a deflection.
Garrett Wilson made one catch for 10 yards.
Smith turned the reins over to rookie Cade Klubnik on the Jets’ next drive.
The Raiders traded Smith and a 2026 seventh-round pick to the Jets for a 2026 sixth-round pick. He returned to the franchise that drafted him in the second round in 2013.
Smith went 2-13 as a starter last season, throwing for 3,025 yards with 19 touchdowns and a league-high 17 interceptions.
Former Steelers wide receiver Barry Pearson died Aug. 16, Chris Ward of steelersnow.com reports. Pearson was 76.
Pearson signed with the Steelers as a free agent in 1972 after starring at Northwestern. He played two seasons with the Steelers and three with the Chiefs.
He was on the field for the Immaculate Reception in the Steelers’ miracle win over the Raiders in the 1972 playoffs. It was his first career play.
Pearson brought in the play to quarterback Terry Bradshaw.
He caught the 46-yard game-winning touchdown on Monday Night Football against Washington in 1973.
The Steelers traded Barry to the Chiefs in 1974, and he led the team in receiving yards in 1975 with 608.
A serious knee injury in 1976 forced him to retire from football.
Barry later served as a wide receivers coach for Jimmy Johnson at Oklahoma State. He interviewed for a coaching position with the Lions, but instead returned to his wife’s family business and had a successful business career.
Barry is survived by his beloved wife of 54 years, Linda; their daughter, Jessica Pearson, and her husband, Shawn Koupal; their daughter, Devorah Pearson Gomez, and her husband, Jeff Gomez; and their three cherished grandchildren: Parker, Jackson and Gia.
Mason Rudolph has been in the league since 2018, serving as a Steelers backup quarterback for the vast majority of his career.
With that, Rudolph has played under his share of offensive coordinators and offensive systems. But he really likes what he’s experienced so far with head coach Mike McCarthy, particularly as it relates to the younger quarterbacks in Pittsburgh’s room, Will Howard and Drew Allar.
McCarthy announced on Wednesday that Howard and Allar will play this week’s preseason game against the Jets, with starter Aaron Rodgers and Rudolph getting a chance to sit and watch.
“I’m very aware that the fanbase is starved for a franchise QB. People want to have hope for the future beyond this year,” Rudolph told Tim Benz of TribLive.com on Wednesday. “We’ve got two great quarterbacks who are young and progressing. I really am jealous of the structure they have had and this program and this quarterback-grooming system the way that coach McCarthy has done it, because I feel that they have made a lot of strides. I’ll be rooting them on Friday.”
While that could be seen as a potential swipe at former head coach Mike Tomlin or any of Rudolph’s other former coaches, Benz noted that he didn’t get the sense that was Rudolph’s intent with his comment. Instead, Rudolph was just giving McCarthy and the new staff credit for their work.
Either way, we’ll all get another chance to see Pittsburgh’s two young QBs on Friday night.
Pittsburgh’s veteran quarterbacks will get a break for Friday night’s matchup with the Jets.
Head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters on Wednesday that second-year QB Will Howard will start against New York, with rookie Drew Allar to follow.
Neither starter Aaron Rodgers nor veteran backup Mason Rudolph will play this week.
Why just Howard and Allar?
“I think you understand, they’re young,” McCarthy said, via Nick Farabaugh of PennLive.com. “Will didn’t get to play last year. Drew’s a first-year player. Have two veterans I feel really good about, obviously, with Aaron and Mason. Saw what I needed to see from Mason last week. I’ve talked highly about Mason, really, since the spring. So I want to max out the opportunities for both Will and Drew.”
Rudolph started last week’s game against the Packers and played 19 snaps, completing 10-of-11 passes for 93 yards. Howard came in second, also playing 19 snaps, finishing the contest 7-of-9 for 86 yards. Allar came in last and completed 10-of-13 passes for 153 yards with two TDs in 30 snaps.
Six years ago, it appeared that the Steelers had found a keeper in second-round receiver Chase Claypool.
Now, Claypool continues to look for a path back to an NFL roster.
Claypool, who hasn’t played in an NFL game since 2023, had a tryout on Tuesday with the Saints, per multiple reports. Veteran receiver Josh Reynolds, a nine-year veteran who played for the Jets in 2025, also tried out for New Orleans.
The Saints recently lost first-round rookie Jordyn Tyson to a hamstring injury. He’s expected to miss two months.
Claypool scored 11 touchdowns as a rookie in Pittsburgh. By 2022, the Steelers had decided to move on, recouping their second-round pick (which ended up being the first pick in round two) from the Bears. During the 2023 season, the Bears traded Claypool to the Dolphins for a swap of sixth- and seventh-round picks.
An injury in 2024 derailed an opportunity with the Bills before the season started. He has not been on a roster since then.
Reynolds, a fourth-round pick of the Rams in 2017, has also played for the Titans, Lions, Broncos, and Jaguars.
