The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

Chris Gates | The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

The Joey Porter Jr. era in Pittsburgh is over.

And it’s difficult to look at the way it ended and come to any conclusion other than this: everybody involved could have handled it better.

The Pittsburgh Steelers traded Porter to the Dallas Cowboys late Wednesday night, finally ending a bizarre contract dispute that stretched from training camp through the first three weeks of the regular season.

In return, Pittsburgh received a sixth-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft and a second-round pick in 2028.

That’s it.

For a player the Steelers selected with the No. 32 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, developed into one of the better cornerbacks in football and once appeared likely to be a foundational piece of their defense for years to come, that’s a disappointing conclusion.

And now both sides have plenty to answer for.

Joey Porter Jr. couldn’t have handled this much worse

Porter entered training camp seeking a contract extension while simultaneously landing on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list because of a back injury.

Initially, there wasn’t much reason to question it.

Porter was hurt. He was negotiating a new contract. The two sides had time to work something out.

But as training camp progressed, Porter remained sidelined. He eventually returned to practice before the regular season, but the Steelers placed him on a gradual ramp-up program after he had missed so much time.

Then came the setbacks.

• Porter missed Week 1.
• Then Week 2.
• Then Week 3.

All the while, the Steelers were trying to survive without arguably their best cornerback.

That absence became particularly glaring against the Cincinnati Bengals, when Pittsburgh’s secondary struggled to contain Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. The Steelers won, but the game highlighted exactly what they were missing without Porter available.

Then came Wednesday.

With the Steelers preparing for a short-week divisional game against the Cleveland Browns, Porter reportedly experienced another issue with his back after participating fully in practice.

Less than 24 hours later, he was a Dallas Cowboy.

Regardless of what was happening behind the scenes, the optics became increasingly difficult for Porter to overcome.

He wanted a lucrative long-term contract. That’s his right.

NFL players have short careers, and Porter had every reason to maximize his earning potential while establishing himself as one of the league’s better young cornerbacks.

But there’s also a market for every player.

And by the end of this saga, the market wasn’t reflecting the value Porter seemingly placed on himself.

If teams around the NFL viewed Porter as a player worthy of the type of massive commitment he was seeking, the Steelers presumably would have been overwhelmed with premium trade offers.

Instead, Pittsburgh ultimately settled for a future second-round pick and a sixth-rounder.

That’s meaningful.

Porter may eventually receive the contract he’s looking for. Maybe a fresh start in Dallas is exactly what he needs.

But the way he navigated his exit from Pittsburgh did him no favors.

The Steelers don’t escape blame

Porter’s handling of the situation shouldn’t absolve the Steelers of responsibility.

This organization drafted him.

It developed him.

And unlike so many of Pittsburgh’s disappointing high draft picks in recent years, Porter actually became the player the Steelers hoped he would become.

That’s what makes this so frustrating.

Teams spend premium draft capital hoping to find young, high-level players at important positions. When you actually find one, the goal should be to keep him.

The Steelers couldn’t.

There are legitimate reasons why Pittsburgh may have been uncomfortable meeting Porter’s contract demands, particularly when it came to guaranteed money deep into a long-term deal.

But this situation didn’t suddenly appear Wednesday night.

• The Steelers knew Porter’s contract was approaching.
• They knew where the cornerback market was heading.
• They knew Porter wanted to be paid.

And they still reached a point where the relationship deteriorated so badly that their best option was trading away one of their top young defensive players for a package that doesn’t deliver the centerpiece of the return until 2028.

That’s incredibly difficult to celebrate.

More questions for Omar Khan

The Porter trade also adds another entry to a growing list of personnel decisions worth examining under general manager Omar Khan.

• George Pickens is now in Dallas.
• Broderick Jones is now in Dallas.
• And Joey Porter Jr. is now in Dallas.

Those situations aren’t identical, and they shouldn’t be treated as if they are.

But at some point, the Steelers need to demonstrate that they can draft premium players, develop them and build around them.

Porter should have been one of those players.

He was young. He played a premium position. He had already established himself as an important part of the defense.

Instead, he’s gone.

That’s particularly concerning when considering where this franchise is headed.

Aaron Rodgers isn’t the long-term answer at quarterback. The Steelers will eventually need to identify their next franchise quarterback and build a roster capable of supporting him.

That process becomes much easier when a team already has young foundational players locked into place elsewhere on the roster.

Porter could have been one of them.

Now the Steelers are starting over at cornerback while waiting years to receive the most valuable draft asset they acquired in return.

An ugly ending that didn’t need to happen

There doesn’t need to be one villain in this story.

Porter deserves criticism for how he navigated the standoff.

The Steelers deserve criticism for allowing the relationship with one of their best young players to deteriorate beyond repair.

And Omar Khan deserves scrutiny for the return Pittsburgh ultimately accepted.

Maybe Dallas gets Porter on the field, eventually signs him to a contract and has its long-term answer at cornerback.

Maybe Porter never gets the contract he envisioned and the Steelers ultimately look smart for refusing to meet his demands.

Maybe Pittsburgh turns that 2028 second-round pick into an excellent player.

There is still a lot we don’t know about how this trade will ultimately be judged.

What we do know is that Joey Porter Jr. was supposed to be part of the Steelers’ future.

Instead, he’s a Dallas Cowboy before the fourth game of the 2026 season.

And the Steelers are preparing for an AFC North game without a cornerback they desperately could have used.

For a relationship that once seemed like such a natural fit — a talented young cornerback following in his father’s footsteps in Pittsburgh — it’s difficult to imagine a messier ending.