Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones teased making a big move after the team’s 37-20 Week 2 win over the Washington Commanders. Jones made good on his word late Wednesday night by hiring cornerback Joey Porter Jr. from the Pittsburgh Steelers for a 2027 sixth-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick, a team source confirmed. The news was first reported by The Ringer.
Porter Jr. doesn’t fit in. for the Steelers in the first three weeks as he is in a staredown with Pittsburgh to get a long-term contract extension. The 26-year-old, the first pick of the second round in the 2023 NFL Draft, will enter the final year of his rookie deal this season and has reportedly asked for more than $30 million per year in a new deal.
Six cornerbacks across the league have such contracts, and Pittsburgh has maintained a tradition of not negotiating multi-year extensions in one season. Porter Jr. stopped. himself playing through what the team officially listed as both back and conditioning issues, and he will now be a Cowboy.
The current value of Porter Jr
Porter Jr. has a solid argument. for a big raise despite no Pro Bowl selections and just three career interceptions in three seasons — one each year. He led the NFL in passer rating against as the primary defender in coverage in 2025, among 128 players with at least 60 pass attempts thrown at them, with a 49.1 passer rating allowed. No other corner is allowed a sub-50 passer rating against, so Porter can say he was in a different stratosphere as a cover corner than the rest of the league the last time he took the field.
Porter Jr. leads the way. among other All-Pro and Pro Bowl cornerbacks who have received big paydays in recent years, such as Patrick Surtain II (four years, $96 million), Derek Stingley Jr. (three years, $90 million) and Christian Gonzalez (four years, $135 million). Gonzalez’s $33.75 million average salary per year is the highest among all NFL corners. Porter Jr.’s 48.1% career completion percentage. allowed ranks fourth-fewest in the NFL since he entered the league in 2023 among those with at least 150 passes, according to CBS Sports Research.
Porter Jr. is currently set to become a free agent. next offseason, but the Cowboys could franchise tag him if they fail to agree on a new deal before the start of the 2027 league year. The 2027 offseason will be tough for Dallas, with Pro Bowl wide receiver George Pickens also set to become a free agent. Dallas could tag him for a second straight year if the two sides fail to reach a new long-term deal with the 25-year-old wideout.
How Porter’s contract fits into Dallas’ cap space
Dallas currently holds $20.8 million in cap space through 2026, the eighth most in the NFL per OverTheCap.com. Whatever the Cowboys don’t use this year can be rolled over to their 2027 cap ledger, which currently sits at -$13.1 million. Simply rolling over this year would get the Cowboys in the green from a team cap sheet perspective.
Additional contract adjustments for cornerback DaRon Bland, tight end Jake Ferguson and tight end Kenny Clark, all of whom were restructured in the 2026 offseason, could free up additional cap space. The same goes for defensive tackle Quinnen Williams’, quarterback Dak Prescott’s and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s existing, multi-year deals.
So yes, there is a world where the Cowboys could extend one or both of Pickens and Porter Jr., or extend one and tag the other next spring. How these two negotiations go is worth pulling out the popcorn and following closely. Both Pickens and Porter Jr. are represented. by agent David Mulugheta and his Athletes First firm. That’s the same representation All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons was in negotiations between him and the Cowboys broke down and ultimately ended up being traded to the Green Bay Packers a week before the start of the 2025 season.
Mulugheta, Jerry, and Stephen Jones mended the fence when Pickens signed his franchise tag tender and appeared for mandatory minicamp this offseason. If Porter Jr. leaves in free agency on a top-of-the-line contract, Dallas could receive a 2028 third-round compensatory pick back. That means they will go back about 20 spots in the draft to rent Porter Jr. for the 2026 season in that situation.
Why Dallas Traded Porter Jr. and their investment in defense
The reason behind the Cowboys trading for Porter Jr. entering Week 4 is pretty simple. Jones will turn 84 on Oct. 13, and he’s desperate to make a meaningful push for a fourth Super Bowl ring while he still can. Through three weeks, Dallas is 1-2 with the No. 7 scoring offense in the NFL (29.3 points per game) and the No. 25 scoring defense (27.3 points per game allowed).
Since trading Parsons at the start of the 2025 season, the Cowboys have allowed the most points per game (29.7), the second-most total yards per game (378.5) and the third-most passing yards per game (244.9). They had the second fewest interceptions (6) in that span.
This season, the 2026 Cowboys defense became the third team since 1963 (when team sacks became an officially tracked stat) to allow 375-plus total yards per game (387.0, third-worst in the NFL), have two or fewer sacks (2, third-fewest in the NFL) and have no interceptions (previous three) games in the NFL in the last season. According to CBS Sports Research, the other two such teams are the 1976 New York Jets and the 2022 Arizona Cardinals. Neither of those teams hit the five-win mark when their defenses started this worrisome first three games.
2026 Dallas Cowboys | ? |
2022 Arizona Cardinals | 4-13 |
1976 New York Jets | 3-11 |
* Team sacks became an officially tracked statistic in 1963
The trade for Porter Jr. marks another important step in Dallas’ roster churn to give first-year defensive coordinator Christian Parker the personnel he needs to turn around the Cowboys’ sagging defense. A whopping 83% of Dallas’ defensive snaps this season have come by players in their first or second year with the Cowboys, the second-highest rate in the NFL behind only the New York Jets (85%) per CBS Sports Research.
Jones invested 11 draft picks on defense, picks made in the draft or as trade compensation for existing players, from the 2026 to 2028 drafts, with five of those picks coming from the first or second round. Since trading Parsons in 2025, the Cowboys’ record is 8-11-1, which ranks 21st out of the league’s 32 teams.
Porter Jr.’s on-field fit
The Cowboys claimed they had all the confidence in the world in 2023 first-team All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland and 2025 third-round pick corner Shavon Revel. But Dallas decided their team’s CB1 wasn’t in the building and went out to get Porter Jr. to change that.
It will be interesting to see how the high-end man-coverage cornerback who prefers to one-up with opposing receivers will fit into Parker’s zone-coverage-based scheme with multiple disguise looks. Dallas has run man coverage on 20.2% of their defensive snaps this season, the 12th-highest rate in the league. So there will be opportunities for Porter Jr. to do what he enjoys most while lining up as an outside corner in zone coverage as well. His presence could allow Parker to be more creative schematically with hybrid looks that feature a mix of man and zone coverage.
Injuries have decimated Dallas’ secondary early this season, so the teammates Parker is lining up for when he first takes the field, likely on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 5 when Dallas hosts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, may not be who he plays next all year. The presence of Porter Jr. could also push Bland back into the slot where he lined up as a rookie in 2022 and intercepted five passes. Said switch could also have the ripple effect of moving Downs from his hybrid nickel/linebacker lite role to deep safety. Perhaps veteran Cobie Durant’s starting spot could be up for grabs with Bland and Porter Jr. as mainstays for the Dallas defense.
What’s clear is that Dallas is at its deepest cornerback position since 2023, when 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year cornerback Stephon Gilmore lined up alongside Bland, then-nickel corner Jourdan Lewis, and others. The 2023 season was also the last time the Cowboys reached the postseason. Thanks to Porter Jr.’s presence, Parker and the Cowboys’ defense have more depth available moving forward in 2026.