Ask around the league about what the Dallas Cowboys paid for Joey Porter Jr. and the reviews are not kind. Dallas sent a 2027 sixth-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday night for the fourth-year cornerback, and one NFL executive believes the Cowboys had no one to outbid.
“They were bidding against themselves for Porter,” the executive told The Athletic’s Jonathan Jones. That executive’s team had been incorrectly linked to Porter before the deal was done. Jones reported that many around the league think Dallas overpaid, largely because teams do not view Porter as a top-tier corner.
Not everyone thinks the Cowboys overpaid
It is a familiar complaint about Dallas. Jones pointed to the fourth-round picks the Cowboys spent on Trey Lance, Jonathan Mingo and Rashan Gary, plus the fifth-rounder that went for Joe Milton. Porter is also the third former high Steelers draft pick to land in Dallas in two years, following George Pickens and Broderick Jones.
The price has its defenders, though. One general manager told Jones he treats the 2028 second-rounder as roughly the equivalent of a 2027 third-round pick, which made the value “down the fairway” in his eyes. The executive who took the shot at Dallas may also have been off on the competition. Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell acknowledged Friday that his team was in on Porter.
An AFC executive offered Jones another way to look at it. Porter is in the final year of his rookie contract, and Jones reported he will not be getting a long-term deal from Dallas, which could use the franchise or transition tag on him in March. If Porter signs elsewhere, the Cowboys would be eligible for a 2028 compensatory pick. In that case the trade would amount to a pick swap for 14 games of Porter. He shares an agent, David Mulugheta, with Pickens and four other Cowboys headed for free agency.
For now, Dallas is 1-2 with a defense that ranks 30th in yards allowed and 25th in points allowed. Porter is not on the injury report and could make his Cowboys debut Sunday against the Houston Texans with a package of plays.
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