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Breaking news into CBS Sports HQ. The Steelers are finalizing a deal to send quarterback Joey Porter Jr. to the Cowboys. That's according to multiple reports. Porter is in the last year of his rookie deal. He wanted a new contract from the Steelers, but was unable to get one done. He hasn't played this season due to a back injury. The corner practiced in full on Monday and Tuesday. however, was limited on Wednesday and ruled out for Thursday's night game with Cleveland. We now welcome in CBS Sports NFL reporter Garrett Podell. And Garrett, you just spoke to a team source. What are the Cowboys giving up for Joey Porter Jr.? Yeah, great to join you here on this Wednesday night. The Dallas Cowboys are giving up a 2027 sixthround pick and a
2028 second round pick to bring in Joey Porter Jr. to the Dallas Cowboys. And this is a pretty big deal. I mean, Joey Porter Jr. in terms of uh pass rating allowed as the primary defender in coverage, his 49.1 pass rating allowed was number one in the NFL among those with at least 60 passes thrown their way. So, this is somebody who is a traditional lock down cover corner. uh his fit in Christian Parker's scheme is going to be really interesting because, you know, someone who thrives in that one-on-one man coverage uh is going into a Vic Fangio style scheme under Parker who worked with Fangio both the Denver Broncos and the Philadelphia Eagles. Cowboys, they run man coverage at the 12th highest rate in the league. So perhaps uh
they'll let him cook and do what he does best, matching up one-on-one down in Dallas. Yeah, Porter Jr. coming off his career season. So why did the Cowboys make this move right now? I think there's a couple reasons for that. I think one is uh they looked around at this defense and said straight up it wasn't good enough. I mean they played the Baltimore Ravens uh very close. Came up just short 3431 in that game. Uh since they traded away Micah Parsons at the start of the 2025 season uh they've been the worst scoring defense in football. 31st in yards, 30th in takeaways. It's their bottom three defense any way you slice it. uh since
the start of the 2025 season. And Jerry Jones, who'll be 84 in October, I mean, he's looking for better results. They made this move. And then also injuries. I mean, Siobhan Revel, uh, he's banged up with a ankle injury that he's not going through practice fully. Kobe Durant, who was one of the starting week one outside corners, he's injured with a hamstring injury. Uh, they've major issues at safety. Jaylen Thompson, their big free agency acquisition safety from the Arizona Cardinals. He was put on injured reserve on Wednesday. And then you have Malik Hooker who's working his way back from a forearm fracture he
suffered in week one. He was limited in practice on Wednesday. But in terms of the secondary, Dallas is a mass unit. So this is bringing in uh just another able-bodied defender who happens to be uh someone coming off like we've talked about an awesome career year in 2025. So how do you see him fitting into this defense? I think it'll be an interesting mix. I mean, Don Bland in 2023, he set the NFL single season pick six's record. Kind of in Dam Quinn scheme, running more of this uh man coverage with a little bit of his own defense. Really relying on a dominant pass rush to get home. The Cowboys defense is built a little differently. That 2023 year with Bland, Michael Parsons was around. Now, it's
all about the interior pressure with Kenny Clark and Quinnon Williams in the middle of that defense. And so it's going to be interesting to see how they scheme things up. I think uh there might be probably a little bit more man coverage that they want. They run for Porter Jr. to maximize his one-on-one coverage skills. They're number 12 uh in the league in man coverage rate here at 20.2%. So you'd think that figure will go up slightly. And it'll be very interesting to see how uh Porter Jr. and that skill set meshes with Christian Parker and his disguise defense. They like using a lot of different zone looks, dropping different people. Caleb DS, the rookie versatile safety at Ohio State. They use
him as kind of a nickel corner, quasi linebacker, Swiss Army knife role that we've seen the Eagles use Cooper Deene with under Fang Gio and Parker in years past. So, it's going to be very interesting to see how Porter Jr. will uh factor into this, but for sure, you would think traditional outside corner with Durant sidelined here with the hamstring injury. Well, the stalemate is broken. Joey Porter Jr. traded to the Dallas Cowboys. Garrett, appreciate you staying up with us and getting all the information. And of course, you can catch all the latest on NFL Today, Sunday at 12 Eastern on CBS and Paramount. Plus,
they'll have plenty more on the Joey Porter trade to Dallas.
