Should We Have Let Joey Porter Walk?

by Michael Bean on Aug 9, 2007 12:05 AM EDT in News

My answer would be a resounding yes. Porter signed a 5-year deal with Miami this offeseason worth $32 million, $20 million of which was in guaranteed money. That's simply too much for a man his age, even if he were entirely healthy. But, in fact, he's not. Porter underwent arthroscopic surgery for the third time in two years on Tuesday.

The good news for Porter is that he is only expected to be out of comission for several weeks. He'll probably sit out all of Miami's preseason games for precautionary measures, although it's not unrealistic to think he might play in their final exhibition game if he is progressing nicely.

The other silver lining for Porter is that Dr. James Andrews performed the surgery. Andrews is arthroscopy guru and was responsible for helping repair Drew Brees' shoulder prior to last season.

So, Porter will more than likely be ok, but that still doesn't answer our question as to whether or not we should have ponied up the dough to re-sign Porter this offseason. I've heard the argument that 'you just don't replace a locker room presence and on-field leader like Porter'. Well I would respond to that by saying yes Porter had some leadership qualities, but his personality was so overbearing that he didn't really give any one else a chance to emerge as a leader on the team. The man's crazy and his personality naturally dominated our locker room. I'm interested to see who fills the void, but I must say I'm not overly concerned about it. It will happen, and it's probable that whoever does emerge as a leader will be more approachable, rational, and sane than Porter.

I'm not here to strictly bash Joey Porter and what he mean to our football team when we made our Super Bowl run. I'm just here to say he wasn't worth the kind of money other desperate and more poorly-runned teams were willing to pay him. It's damn frustrating being a Steeler fan at time because of our steadfast refusal to overpay for players, even if they have been an integral and loyal member of the franchise (see Alan Faneca). It's frustrating, but it's savy on the part of the Rooneys. This will be a common theme for us as we learn what the Rooneys decide to do with Faneca and Big Ben over the next several years.

What do you guys think? Did we make the right move?

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I always liked Porter's passion on the field

but with Cowher leaving and Porter entering the final year of his contract, it was the perfect time to move on. Cowher did a great job of managing his combustible personality and we have no idea how Tomlin and Porter would have meshed. I can only imagine the turmoil that he and Faneca could stir up if they were both in the locker room chirping about thier contracts.

I hope he does great in Miami but with his age we cut ties at the right time.

by cgolden on Aug 9, 2007 8:42 AM EDT reply actions

Porter

With Porter we had three options, sign him, release him, or let him play out his contract. We had a lot of money invested in other parts of our defense, and there really was little reason to give him a big deal considering his age. He's a great backer, but Harrison was ready to start. I questioned Aaron Smith's extention, but we really didn't have someone ready to take his spot. Also, at that point, we were probably still thinking we were going to sign Faneca and Polamalu, who were more worthy of extensions.

It would have been nice to get the 3-4th round draft pick by letting him finish his contract, but we needed cap space and he wasn't happy with his contract anyway. If he had another slow year with us or got injured again, there's no way he was going to get the money he did. We did the respectful thing by not forcing him to stay, and in return, he hasn't said one bad word about us.

Also, there is no way in hell they're going to let Ben walk. We have a clear QB for the first time in 25 years.

by BadMaafala on Aug 9, 2007 9:20 AM EDT reply actions

these are great points

Especially the one about how we let Porter go respectfully, without jeopardizing his future earning potential. Btw, I don't think it's a big question mark about whether or not we re-sign Big Ben...it's just going to be interesting to see what kind of money he is offered.

by Michael Bean on Aug 9, 2007 11:25 AM EDT up reply actions

I think more than anything else...

We knew we wanted to lock up Troy and obviously we saved our pennies for that one...seeing as how we made him the highest paid Steeler in team history.

Plus, Porter was/is 30 and his production over the past couple of years had not been awe inspiring (last season especially)...said it before and I'll say it again, you gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em...

Still love Joey though for his persona. Favorite fuzzy Porter moment - Super Bowl XL feud with Jeramy Stevens..."Joey...Jeramy...Joey...Jeramy." Dude's definitely got personality.

by Cotter on Aug 9, 2007 11:05 AM EDT reply actions

yeah,

I'm going to miss his antics, and I think he was perfect for our defense, but I'm not upset he left. I was more interested in protecting Troy and some of the other guys. Our defensive system creates great backers out of good ones, so I'm not worried about losing him, Harrison will do just fine.

by steelerark on Aug 9, 2007 3:32 PM EDT reply actions