The Pittsburgh Steelers failed to extend Joey Porter Jr. before Week 1 kicked off this past weekend. Now trade rumors are swirling around Pittsburgh with Porter's future hanging in the balance. One Steelers insider offered fans some hope about Porter playing his first game sooner rather than later.

ESPN's Brooke Pryor gave a handful of updates on Pittsburgh as the team begins preparing for Week 2. Pittsburgh may finally get Porter back on the field for Sunday's game.

“One guy who could be back out on the field on Sunday is Joey Porter Jr., the cornerback who has been dealing with this contract extension, back injury, ramp-up period. I'm told the Steelers were having conversations with his side trying to negotiate a last-minute deal all the way up until Sunday morning,” Pryor said on Wednesday via Good Morning Football. “Nothing got done, Porter was inactive, and that was mostly a byproduct of the conditioning because he sat out for all of training camp on PUP and has now been slowly coming back.”

The idea of Porter playing in Week 1 was always a long shot. Even if Pittsburgh extended him just before Week 1, conditioning would have still been an issue.

Pryor echoed what Steelers coach Mike McCarthy has said about Porter returning once his back injury completely heals.

“Mike McCarthy did say that he expects Porter to play when that ramp-up period is over,” Pryor added. “He should do more work today and Mike McCarthy said they are coming to the end of that timeline.”

Of course, it remains to be seen if Porter will play in 2026 without a new contract. It will be interesting to see how Porter responds after completing this ramp-up process.

Next up for the Steelers is a road game against the Patriots. That AFC contest kicks off at 1PM ET on September 20th from Gillette Stadium.