Joey Porter Jr. wanted a new contract in Pittsburgh. The Dallas Cowboys just traded for him, and apparently they aren’t rushing to give him one, either.
Dallas agreed to send the Pittsburgh Steelers a 2028 second-round pick and a conditional 2027 sixth-rounder for Porter on Wednesday night, ending a standoff that had hovered over the Steelers since the summer.
The assumption was that a new contract would follow the trade. Not so fast.
NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported shortly after the deal that Dallas does not plan to immediately extend Porter, who had been seeking a deal worth at least $30 million per year in Pittsburgh.
Cowboys Have Different Plan for Joey Porter Jr. Contract
The Cowboys aren’t treating Porter like a rental. They’re just willing to make him prove it first.
“Sources: The #Cowboys will not be immediately extending Joey Porter Jr. contract. Plan is to have him play and make an impact on a team that has Super Bowl aspirations in the NFC. Contract will take care of itself from there. JPJ gets a fresh, new start,” Schultz wrote.
That’s a significant twist considering the money was one of the biggest reasons Porter became available in the first place.
NFL reporter James Palmer reported that teams had checked in on Porter, but Pittsburgh’s asking price combined with the contract he wanted became too much for several of them.
“Teams that had checked in and others monitoring the situation felt that the combination of the high asking price from the Steelers, plus a new contract in the range Porter wants, at least 30 million a year, was too much in it’s totality. Because if you are giving up a 2nd round pick, you don’t let the player walk out the door after this season. You could always tag Porter,” Palmer wrote.
Dallas ultimately was willing to give up that second-round pick anyway. The Cowboys just pushed it out to 2028 and, according to Schultz, won’t immediately stack a massive extension on top of it.
Porter is entering the final year of his rookie contract and can become an unrestricted free agent after the season. If the Cowboys like what they see but can’t reach a long-term deal, the franchise tag gives them another way to keep him.
Joey Porter Jr. Leaves Steelers Without Playing in 2026
The strangest part of the whole thing is that Porter never played a snap for Pittsburgh this season.
He opened the year working his way back from a back injury and missed each of the Steelers’ first three games. There finally appeared to be movement this week when he practiced in full Monday and Tuesday ahead of Thursday night’s game against Cleveland.
Then late Wednesday night it happened.
Palmer reported that Porter couldn’t finish practice after the back issue flared up again. Pittsburgh ruled him out against the Browns, and only a few hours later, he was headed to Dallas.
“Porter hasn’t played yet this season as the team has been ramping him up to play, but the … back issue … kept flaring up. He’s now a Cowboy,” Palmer wrote.
It ends a messy final few months between Porter and the organization that drafted him No. 32 overall in 2023.
He leaves Pittsburgh after 47 games, 41 starts, 165 tackles, 31 pass breakups and three interceptions.
The Steelers get future draft capital instead of letting the contract situation drag through the season.
Dallas gets the player.
What it isn’t doing, at least yet, is giving Porter the contract that helped start all of this in the first place.
Joey Porter Jr. Gets Surprising Contract Plan After Steelers-Cowboys Trade: Report