Former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. will play Sunday night. The Dallas Cowboys announced Porter is active when he wasn’t included on their inactive list Sunday night ahead of their matchup versus the Green Bay Packers.
That closes the book on what the Steelers will receive in the Porter trade to the Cowboys. With his second game in Dallas, the Steelers will officially receive the 2027 sixth-round pick the Cowboys offered for Porter.
“Has to be on Cowboys active game-day roster one more game for Steelers to get their sixth-round pick,” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac wrote Friday ahead of Week 6.
The main asset the Steelers received in return for Porter was a 2028 second-round choice. But the Cowboys also included a conditional sixth-round pick in next spring’s draft. The condition for that selection was Porter playing two games in Dallas.
Porter dressed in Week 4 versus the Houston Texans. However, he unexpectedly missed Week 5 last Thursday night because of the flu.
While the Cowboys expected Porter to return versus the Packers, there was some doubt on social media over Porter’s status because he developed an ankle injury this week. Entering Sunday, the Cowboys had Porter officially listed as questionable.
Fortunately for the Steelers, he will play.
Steeler Officially Get 2027 Sixth-Round Pick in Joey Porter Jr. Trade
Some Steelers fans laughed from afar about the possibility Porter was faking another injury in Dallas. The Cowboys and Porter emphasized throughout the past week that his ankle issue was genuine and that he would likely still play in Week 6. Yet, the narrative grew that there could be drama around Porter’s status Sunday night.
But if that was the case, that would actually hurt Pittsburgh. Thankfully for the Steelers, Porter not getting a contract extension in Dallas didn’t prevent him from playing in at least two games after the trade.
Regardless of how much Porter plays Sunday night in Green Bay, he is active. That’s enough to meet the requirement for the Steelers to get the 2027 sixth-rounder from Dallas.
While a sixth-round pick isn’t a significant asset, there are plenty of instances where teams turn a late Day 3 selection into a contributing player. In this past spring’s draft, the Steelers grabbed defensive lineman Gabe Rubio in the sixth round and starting safety Robert Spears-Jennings in the seventh.
That’s hard to do on a yearly basis, and there’s no guarantee the player the Steelers select with the Cowboys sixth-rounder in 2027 will be a similar immediate contributor. But having the extra draft capital is a great thing.
The Steelers might not even take a player with Dallas’s 2027 sixth-round choice. General manager Omar Khan could use the pick to move up for a quarterback next spring. Khan could package the Cowboys 2028 second-rounder in the same trade for a rookie signal-caller too.
That scenario exists thanks to the extra draft picks from Dallas. The Steelers received confirmation that they will get both selections from the Cowboys with Porter playing Sunday.
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