Cowboys Executive V.P. Stephen Jones says the team spent significant time negotiating a trade with the Steelers for cornerback Joey Porter Jr. that made sense for the Cowboys — and made the trade only after the Steelers’ price came down.
Jones said on 105.3 The Fan that what the Steelers were initially asking for was more than the Cowboys were willing to give up, but they eventually got the Steelers to lower the price to a 2027 sixth-round pick and 2028 second-round pick.
“Early on the price was a little hefty for us, then it got to a point where we could deal with it,” Jones said.
Jones said the Cowboys know there’s a chance Porter will leave in free agency after this season, but they think if he does, they’ll get a 2028 compensatory pick that largely makes up for losing the 2028 second-round pick.
“We had to have that trade make sense if Joey left after this year,” Jones said. “That’s why the 2 in ’28 matches up with a compensatory pick. If he did leave we’d probably get a 3 or a 4 for him and get that back for Joey in ’28 when that 2 is in place. So it made a lot of sense. It protected us.”
Even if Porter proves to be only a rental for the rest of this season before going elsewhere, Jones thinks the price was right, once the Steelers lowered it.