Last offseason, Micah Parsons had a back injury that held him out of training camp with the Dallas Cowboys as he sought a new contract. It threatened to keep him out of the start of the season and, coincidentally, happened to serve as his leverage against Dallas in the negotiation that ultimately led Jerry Jones to trade him to the Green Bay Packers.
After landing in Green Bay and signing a four-year, $186 million contract extension with the Packers, his back miraculously healed, and he played 30 snaps in Week 1 despite not taking part in training camp with either team.
This offseason, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback and fellow former Nittany Lion Joey Porter Jr., who was in Happy Valley with Parsons in 2019, was up for a contract extension heading into the final year of his rookie deal. Just as Dallas paid Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb before handling Parsons’ extension, Pittsburgh paid Porter’s fellow 2023 draftees, Keeanu Benton, Nick Herbig, and Darnell Washington.
Then, in training camp, Porter’s back landed him on the injury report as he “held in” during negotiations. Well, negotiations never went anywhere between the Steelers and Porter’s team, which, as a team policy, does not negotiate with players once the season begins, and eventually called the bluff on Porter’s back injury.
Porter missed the first three games of the season due to a lack of conditioning after missing the preseason program, but now his back injury has seemingly “flared up” again, landing him back on the injury report, listed as OUT for Pittsburgh’s Thursday night clash with the Cleveland Browns.
Joey Porter Jr.’s back injury seemingly flared up again. He is OUT.
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) September 30, 2026
Jalen Ramsey (wrist) is questionable. Rico Dowdle is OUT. pic.twitter.com/0nOohHsEg2
It’s likely that Porter has played his last snap as a Steeler, as he’s forcing the team’s hand into trading him to a team that will pay him a top-of-market extension. Just as Parsons, a year ago, saw Myles Garrett and TJ Watt both get paid extensions with a value over $40 million a year, top cornerbacks from Porter’s class, Christian Gonzales and Devon Witherspoon, both landed extensions that put them over $30 million a year.
Players like Micah Parsons and Joey Porter Jr. have to claw back leverage any way they can
First, let’s make it clear that this isn’t a direct accusation that Parsons and Porter both faked their back injuries. It’s very possible that both injured their back, which is a nebulous, difficult-to-diagnose injury that can easily flare up at any moment, at incredibly convenient times with regard to their contract negotiations.
It may also be a coincidence that a few years ago, in 2023, former Player-President of the NFL Players Association, JC Tretter, who is now the executive director of the NFLPA, went on podcasts and openly encouraged players to fake injuries as leverage in contract negotiations.
So again, not an accusation, but it’s hard not to connect the dots.
And the thing is, even if they’re fake injuries, it’s hard not to take the players' side because they have to claw back leverage from the team any way they possibly can. They will be fined for holding out and lose out on their paychecks, so the “fake” injury works wonders.
In the NFL, unlike every other professional sport, teams have a recourse to allow their top players to reach true free agency: the franchise tag. So, in other sports, Porter would at least be heading toward restricted free agency as his rookie deal is set to expire, but in the NFL, his team, in this case the Steelers, can tag him for 2027 and 2028 and prevent him from negotiating with any other team.
So, the team has all the leverage in the most dangerous of the professional sports with the shortest career span. As much as fans may not like it, it’s the only way players can level the playing field in negotiations, and these two former Nittany Lions are playing the game perfectly.
It looks increasingly likely that Porter will be traded in the coming days, as he’s seemingly made the situation in Pittsburgh untenable, and undoubtedly the team that gives up resources, likely draft capital, for him will have an extension in place to keep him happy and get him on the field.
The NFL will want to do something about players using these “injuries” for leverage, but any change will need to be collectively bargained. The best solution would be to get rid of the franchise tag, but owners will never budge on that.
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