PITTSBURGH -- Despite full participation in back-to-back walk-throughs earlier this week, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. will not make his season debut against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night.
Porter was ruled out by the Steelers on Wednesday afternoon, while fellow defensive back Jalen Ramsey (broken wrist) was listed as questionable. The Steelers also ruled out running back Rico Dowdle (toe). And while the Steelers announced cornerback Brandin Echols cleared concussion protocol, he remains listed as questionable.
That Porter, who was inactive for the first three games of the season, was ruled out for Thursday's game is a surprise after being a full practice participant earlier in the week. He seemingly reported a back issue to the Steelers on Wednesday, and the team added "back" alongside the previous injury description of "not injury related/conditioning" on Wednesday's practice report. Porter was also listed as a limited participant.
Just a day earlier, coach Mike McCarthy expressed optimism about Porter's availability for Thursday night's game.
"Oh, we hope so," McCarthy said Tuesday when asked if he expected him to play against the Browns following his full participation Monday. "Today is another day. ... this will be more of a jog-through. We'll have a little more pace and pretty much a similar amount of reps. We'll see how he does today."
McCarthy was deliberate in slowly ramping up his practices on the short week to optimize his team's recovery from the Week 3 win against the Cincinnati Bengals. Monday's practice was a light walk-through, followed by a slight uptick in speed Tuesday and more tempo Wednesday.
Because Monday's and Tuesday's practices weren't full-speed, the participation report is an estimation, but Porter's status as a full participant in each was still significant. It marked the first time he had been a full participant since he was activated off the physically unable to perform list in late August.
While navigating a contentious contract negotiation that failed to produce an extension by the team's regular-season deadline, Porter has also been dealing with a back injury since first reporting the aggravation during a mobility workout on the first day of training camp. He missed all of training camp and the preseason on the physically unable to perform list. He was activated off the list on roster cutdown day, and he had been a limited participant in every practice before this week. He also left practice early two weeks ago when he reported another flare up of his back injury, but the "back" injury description was gone from the practice report by the following week.
Speaking for the first time since he and the Steelers failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension, Porter said on Sept. 24 that he would "definitely" play this season, and he added that both his conditioning and the lingering back injury had been preventing him from playing in games.
"It's both," Porter said. "My back has its moments where [there's] a flare-up here and there, and we're still just trying to get my conditioning down to just me being out there as much as possible."
Porter declined interview requests Monday and didn't make himself available in the locker room Tuesday. The Browns, meanwhile, ruled out starting center Elgton Jenkins (concussion), but starting cornerback Tyson Campbell (knee) doesn't have a game status and will play.
