PITTSBURGH — Joey Porter Jr. may be on the physically unable to perform list, but Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike McCarthy said the quiet part out loud Monday: It’s an unresolved contract dispute that has kept the cornerback off the field.“We’re at an impasse right here, and you’ve got to respect that,” McCarthy said. “Every one of us has a contract. The organization, they have beliefs, and so forth. That’s just kind of where we are.”Porter is entering the fourth and final year of his rookie deal. He began to bring attention to his contract situation by “holding in” during OTAs and mandatory minicamp. He was still present and involved in all meetings but chose to sit out the majority of drills. Porter reported to training camp, before which general manager Omar Khan did not identify him as a player who would start practices on the PUP list. Hours after Khan spoke, the team announced via social media that Porter had been added to the list.“We need the whole secondary out there. They’ve got to pay Joey Porter,” said Jalen Ramsey, the seventh-highest-paid corner in the NFL with a yearly value of more than $24 million. “Joey needs to get compensated for being a valuable part of this secondary and a valuable part of this defense and team.”The Steelers have already re-signed three members of their 2023 NFL Draft class — outside linebacker Nick Herbig (four years, $100 million), tight end Darnell Washington (four years, $42 million) and defensive tackle Keeanu Benton (four years, $72 million). Porter’s performance arguably makes him the member of that class most deserving of a new deal. That’s also part of what has made it a challenge to bring the two sides together amid a booming market for cornerbacks.The salaries for top cornerbacks have skyrocketed recently. In September 2024, Denver’s Patrick Surtain II became the highest-paid defensive back in the NFL with a $24 million per year deal, just a few months before he was named Defensive Player of the Year. Over the past two seasons, seven other players have surpassed him. That includes five who now make more than $30 million per season: Seattle’s Devon Witherspoon ($33 million per season), Cleveland’s Denzel Ward ($31.1 million), the Los Angeles Rams’ Trent McDuffie ($31 million), Indianapolis’ Sauce Gardner ($30.1 million) and Houston’s Derek Stingley Jr. ($30 million). The market grew so rapidly that the Broncos had to add a sweetener to Surtain’s deal this offseason.It seems like the market is getting pushed higher almost weekly. That will probably only continue. The New England Patriots have already expressed a desire to make Christian Gonzalez the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback.