The Cowboys are sending the Steelers two draft picks in the trade that brings cornerback Joey Porter Jr. to Dallas.
The Steelers will get the Cowboys’ 2027 sixth-round pick and their 2028 second-round pick, according to multiple reports.
For the Cowboys, it’s a move that’s about bolstering the defense immediately with a player who’s in the final year of his contract, whereas for the Steelers it’s about acquiring future draft capital for a player who clearly wanted more money than the Steelers were going to be willing to pay.
Whether the Cowboys pay that money remains to be seen. It would be unusual to trade for a player in the last year of his contract and not give him an extension, but the Cowboys could also be thinking that they’ll get the rest of this season out of Porter and then evaluate whether to sign him to a long-term deal or let him walk in free agency.
The Cowboys could be calculating that getting one good season out of Porter this year and then letting him leave for a lucrative contract with another team wouldn’t be the worst thing, as that would likely bring them a third-round compensatory pick in 2028. Essentially, they’d be renting Porter for one season and only paying him the $3.924 million salary on the final year of his contract, at the price of moving down from the second to the third round in 2028.
For the Steelers, they’re losing one of their most talented players, but it had become clear that things weren’t going to work out for Porter in Pittsburgh. He was unhappy with his contract and still hasn’t played this season, officially because of a back injury — a back injury that the Steelers may have calculated was not going to heal until they gave him the contract he wanted.
Whether Porter gets that contract in Dallas this year, in Dallas next offseason, or with some other team next offseason, he’s now a Cowboy, and the Steelers have acquired two draft picks for a player who wanted out.