PITTSBURGH (AP) — Joey Porter Jr. spent Sunday afternoon milling around the Pittsburgh Steelers sideline in gray sweats.
When he finds his way into his black-and-gold No. 24 jersey remains anyone's guess.
While coach Mike McCarthy described the decision to make his team's best cornerback inactive ahead of a 20-13 season-opening victory over Atlanta as health related after Porter missed most of training camp with a back injury, Porter's teammates hinted his uncertain contract status played a factor.
“We want him here, and we want him to get paid,” linebacker Patrick Queen said. “You know, it’s a tough situation. I support him fully ... Whatever (the reason he didn’t play), we support him regardless.”
The 26-year-old Porter is entering the final season of his rookie deal and has spent recent weeks hoping to iron out an extension before the club's self-imposed Week 1 deadline.
The son of former NFL linebacker Joey Porter Sr. said recently he wasn't sure if he would play if the two sides couldn't reach an agreement, and McCarthy remained cagey on Porter's status ahead of the opener.
That brinksmanship may have carried over to the weekend, with the club deciding Porter wasn't ready to go after listing him as a “limited participant” in practice. He was given a “questionable” designation to play before missing the fourth game of his career.
“The business part of it, that’s not for me to speak on,” McCarthy said. “But yeah, we had a plan for him to go through ramp-up workouts through last week. And that’s really the timeline that we’re just hopefully coming to an end.”
McCarthy added Porter is scheduled to take more snaps in practice this week, opening the door for him to potentially play next Sunday in New England.
While Pittsburgh's defense held up just fine against Atlanta third-string quarterback Cooper Rush, his absence on the field was felt.
“You know, when he gets back to us, he’ll get back to us,” longtime defensive tackle Cam Heyward said. “I feel like Joey’s still going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler long after this. And, hopefully they can just, you know, work that out.”
If they do, it won't be until the offseason at the earliest.
While the Steelers have re-signed several players from his draft class — including edge rusher Nick Herbig and tight end Darnell Washington — they have either been unwilling or unable to come to terms with Porter. The team has a long-standing tradition of not negotiating during the course of the season, meaning the two sides will have to wait until mid-January at the earliest to get something done.
Pittsburgh does have the option of placing the franchise tag on Porter for 2027 if it wants, a tactic it most recently used on former running back Le’Veon Bell in 2017 and 2018. Bell was an All-Pro in 2017 but opted to sit out the following season when the team placed the tag on him again.
The Steelers have largely avoided contract distractions. Porter said during minicamp in the spring that he expected to be paid like one of the top players at his position.
As spring turned to summer and camp began, he tweaked his back during a mobility test spent the majority of the preseason on the physically unable to perform list, though McCarthy said in August the club was at an “impasse” in negotiations with Porter.
That impasse will now carry over to the winter and perhaps longer.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
FILE - Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. reacts after a stop during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Houston Texans, Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl, File)
CAIRO (AP) — The latest attack on the international airport in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh killed 12 people and injured over 300 others, civil aviation authorities said early Sunday, with some in critical condition. A Saudi-led coalition blamed Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen.
It was the deadliest attack in any Gulf Arab country since the start of the Iran war, whose fronts have expanded to include the recent surge in fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.
A missile struck a King Khalid International Airport complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights, a regional official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media.
The Saudi statement said the dead included four Saudi citizens as well as two Bangladeshi nationals, a Palestinian, a U.S. citizen, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian and a Sudanese. It said the injured were being treated at several hospitals.
Footage posted on social media following the attack and analyzed by The Associated Press shows emergency vehicles outside the airport.
Saudi civil aviation authorities on Saturday said airport operations were suspended. The closure was later extended by 24 hours until 9 p.m. Sunday, according to the flight tracking platform Flightradar 24.
The attack — the latest of several in the past week on the airport — is expected to increase Saudi pressure on allies including the United States to provide military support for the kingdom, which has seemingly tried to avoid all-out war with the Houthis.
Shortly after the attack on Saturday afternoon, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was evaluating whether the U.S. should join Saudi strikes against the rebels. “We may. We’re going to look at it,” he said. “We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.”
Trump later Saturday said he planned to speak to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and said “what happened in Saudi Arabia is not acceptable.” Asked if the U.S. might get involved, Trump responded, “We’ll find out.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged in a social media post that an American citizen had been killed in the attack, which he condemned.
“These reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now,” he said.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis blamed them for the attack, calling it a “fully-fledged war crime” and vowing a firm response. The airport has no military facilities.
There was no immediate statement from the rebels, who earlier Saturday accused Saudi Arabia of striking Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-held Yemeni capital.
The Houthis claimed attacks earlier in the week on King Khalid International Airport that killed three Saudis, including a pilot. The surge in attacks, including against other Saudi airports, military facilities and oil infrastructure, has come in the week since a Saudi-led coalition launched a major military offensive against the Houthis.
The airport had a heavy police presence on Saturday, with all entrances blocked, and lights around the complex were dimmed. Flights diverted elsewhere, Flightradar24 said. Countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, Australia and Canada warned citizens to avoid the airport.
Also Saturday, U.S. Central Command said a fighter jet struck and disabled a commercial cargo vessel with a precision munition in the Gulf of Oman, part of U.S. efforts to maintain a naval blockade of Iranian ports. The Panama-flagged M/V Ocean Molica had departed an Iranian port and did not heed repeated warnings. The ship’s crew was unharmed, CENTCOM said.
The attacks on Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, have rattled markets and the region. And yet the Saudi energy ministry hours after the latest one was still promoting a major international energy conference set to begin in Riyadh on Sunday.
Until recently, the Houthis had been largely on the sidelines of the Iran war. Now the rebels are a way for Tehran to apply pressure on a key U.S. ally.
The Saudis and the Houthis began fighting in 2015 when the kingdom entered Yemen’s civil war on behalf of the internationally recognized government. Relative calm after a 2022 ceasefire ended in July when the Houthis resumed attacks, saying the Saudis fired on the Sanaa airport as a plane from Iran was trying to land. That revived anger over the Saudi-led blockade that has largely isolated Houthi-run areas.
Now fighting has escalated, with the Saudi-led coalition providing air support for Yemeni government forces attempting to reverse recent Houthi gains along the Red Sea. Those gains gave the rebels better surveillance of shipping on a corridor that is a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking ships.
While the Houthis have said they are only targeting Saudi shipping as part of a blockade in retaliation for the one imposed on them, concerns about wider attacks persist. The Houthis previously attacked dozens of ships after the war in Gaza began, calling it solidarity with Palestinians. A U.S. bombing campaign sharply limited that.
Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air defense support to the region, regional officials told the AP last month, with one noting that the U.S. has seen its own stock dwindle during the war with Iran.
Officials have said U.S. assistance has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for the latest offensive against the Houthis.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia said its foreign minister and Omani counterpart spoke by phone about the importance of “supporting diplomatic solutions to de-escalate tensions” in the region. Oman, which lies across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, has played a mediator role at times in the region.
The Houthis this week warned global airlines “for the last time” about the potential consequences of operating in Saudi airspace, which they described as a theater for their military operations.
Before the latest attack, Air India, FlyDubai, Lufthansa Group and Pakistan International Airlines were among airlines suspending flights to and from Riyadh and other Saudi airports for varying periods.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency had expanded its guidance on Saudi airspace, noting the Houthis’ ability to strike targets deeper inside the kingdom, including Riyadh, and a “greater focus on aviation infrastructure.”
The missile and drone attacks and interception efforts “create an increased risk of misidentification of civil aircraft,” it said.
Two regional officials said Houthi attacks on the Riyadh airport on Thursday damaged three planes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media. The Saudi national carrier said one of its aircraft was damaged while it was on the ground, with no passengers on board.
Meanwhile, Saudi authorities warned the public this week that “filming, publishing or sharing information related to countering missiles and drones and their impact sites exposes you to legal liability.”
Anna reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Victoria Eastwood in Cairo, Collin Binkley in Washington and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.
This image from video obtained and verified by AP shows thick black smoke and flames rising from a fire at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
