Steelers made contract offer to CB Joey Porter Jr.

The Steelers have made a contract offer to cornerback Joey Porter Jr. , NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported late Tuesday. However, the insider noted the proposed deal was "not good enough for this one to be deemed close."

"But, the Steelers have shown a willingness to engage," Garafolo added. "Which means we got a couple of days for both sides to figure out what are the right numbers to get a deal done. There is a lot of work to be done from my understanding. I would not call it imminent. I would not call it close. But I will call it an actual negotiation now that the Steelers have made an offer."

Porter is now the last big-name cornerback still hoping for an extension this offseason, with the Patriots and cornerback Christian Gonzalez agreeing to a record-setting four-year, $135 million deal early Tuesday morning.

With Porter back in practice after spending most of the summer on the physically unable to perform list, it appears the two sides are starting to make some progress. However, Pittsburgh doesn't negotiate once games start, and Porter hasn't ruled out an in-season holdout, adding an extra sense of urgency to the negotiations.

Steelers beat writers such as PennLive's Nick Farabaugh have posted that the Steelers will probably not need to make Porter the league's new highest-paid corner to get a deal done.