Steelers Now
Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Joey Porter Sr. is hopeful another coaching opportunity will soon come.
Pittsburgh Steelers legendary linebacker Joey Porter Sr. is very interested in joining his former team’s coaching staff. The former Super Bowl XL champion recently reiterated his desire to return to coaching.
“Until they give me a suite, I said I got to sit in the stands, ’cause I want to be the full fan,” Porter said on the latest episode of “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward.” “I sat in Penn State for four years, sitting in the stands. I ain’t about to try and use my Steeler power of being on the sideline — ’cause it’s giving mixed emotions. I know how much I really do want to coach. I’m not trying to sit down there looking like I’m trying to ask for my job back — knowing I would take it back — but you don’t want to come off like that. And I want [Joey Porter Jr.] to be a man and do his thing.”
Porter Sr. last served as the Steelers outside linebackers coach from 2015-18 after starting as a defensive assistant with them in 2014.
However, in January of 2019, he was informed that his contract wasn’t going to be renewed. Porter Sr. was then hired to be the linebackers coach of the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL, whose head coach was his former teammate Hines Ward. He was not retained after the 2023 XFL season after the departure of Ward, though.
Since, Porter Sr. has been on the sidelines as a fan, most notably for his son, cornerback Joey Porter Jr., who the Steelers drafted in the second round (No. 32 overall) of the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Steelers have long loved NFL bloodlines, so it’s difficult to completely write off a return by Porter Sr. But a reunion seems unlikely for now.
Pittsburgh’s current outside linebackers coaching spot is filled by Denzel Martin, who is entering his first season in the role after previously serving three seasons as the team’s assistant outside linebackers coach (2020-22), two seasons as a coaching assistant (2018-19) and two more as the Steelers’ scouting assistant (2016-17).
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Legend Really Wants to Take Coaching Job Back
