FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys have acquired disgruntled cornerback Joey Porter Jr. from the Pittsburgh Steelers, a move to try help an injury-plagued secondary and boost a defense that remains among the NFL’s worst.
Pittsburgh will receive two draft picks from Dallas, a sixth-rounder in 2027 and a second-rounder in 2028. Both teams announced the trade Thursday.
Porter has been inactive all three games this season for the Steelers. The fourth-year pro has been dealing with a back issue and had also been in the middle of a stalemate with the Steelers over a new contract.
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The 26-year-old Porter, a second-round pick out of Penn State in the 2023 draft, was seeking an extension as he entered the final year of his four-year rookie deal.
Porter was seen working with his new defensive coordinator, 34-year-old Christian Parker, during the portion of practice open to reporters Thursday.
Parker didn’t rule out Porter playing when the Cowboys (1-2) visit the Houston Texans (0-3) on Sunday, but said there were several things to work through.
“Obviously we have to get him onboarded relative to where’s his conditioning, his body, everything,” Parker said. “Everybody else is three games into this thing, so we got to check his temperature there. Then there’s also the mental tax of learning a new scheme. I’ve been in a bunch of different ones where you sign somebody one week and they’re out there as a first responder on Sunday. And it’s been more of a slow burn. So we’ll see how that goes.”
The Cowboys agreed to the deal with Porter after earlier Wednesday putting safety Jalen Thompson (hamstring) on injured reserve with a designation to return. They also signed three defensive backs to their practice squad.
Safety P.J. Locke (torn plantar fascia) was already on injured reserve. He and Thompson were offseason acquisitions by the Cowboys as a part of retooling the secondary.
It’s the second major trade between the Cowboys and Steelers in two years.
Before the 2025 season, Pittsburgh sent receiver George Pickens to Dallas for draft picks. He made the Pro Bowl in his Dallas debut, setting career highs with 93 catches for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns last season.
Pickens is playing this season on a $27.3 million franchise tag and has 16 catches for 150 yards without a score.
The Steelers took Pickens out of Georgia in the second round in 2022. While his talent was on display during three seasons with the Steelers, so were enough instances of petulant or indifferent behavior for then-coach Mike Tomlin to question his maturity.
Dallas and Pittsburgh also made a lower-profile trade during the preseason this year. The Cowboys acquired offensive tackle Broderick Jones and a fourth-round pick in next year’s draft for third- and sixth-round choices.
Not only is Dallas suddenly seeking reinforcements in the secondary, but the defense as a whole is off to another rough start after being one of the NFL’s worst in 2025.
The Cowboys are second-to-last in rushing defense and one of four teams without an interception. Dallas had a franchise-worst six picks on defense last season.
In a 34-31 loss to Baltimore in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, the Cowboys let Lamar Jackson complete a 27-yard pass to Zay Flowers when the Ravens had only 7 seconds on the clock after a tying field goal by Dallas. Jackson got a timeout called with a second remaining, and Tyler Loop kicked a winning 56-yard field goal.
While the Cowboys had hopes of a quick turnaround with Parker as a first-time defensive coordinator, the first three weeks have shown otherwise. In a season-opening loss to the New York Giants, Dallas had just two possessions in the second half because the defense couldn’t get a stop.
Porter was among the top 20 in the NFL in pass breakups over his first three seasons with 31. He had two seasons of double-digit passes defended. Last season, DaRon Bland was the leader for Dallas with six as the Cowboys finished last in the league in passing defense.
According to the NFL’s NextGenStats, Porter is fourth among cornerbacks in lowest completion rate allowed at 55% since entering the league in 2023. He has three career interceptions in 47 games.
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