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Sports EdgeHENRI IVOctober 1, 20263 min readAd-free
Cowboys Pay $68M Extension After Trading For Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr
Dallas outbid two NFC rivals for the corner, then immediately locked him through 2029—the kind of roster urgency that costs draft capital and patience.
Dallas traded a third-rounder and signed Porter to **$68M** to fix the corner spot, but waived their signal-caller and now hold five draft picks total.
85 percent
of defensive snaps this season
15 games
for Pittsburgh in 2024 and allowed a passer rating…
78.4
when targeted
$17 million
per year average
The Dallas Cowboys acquired cornerback Joey Porter Jr from the Pittsburgh Steelers in a trade announced Tuesday, then signed him to a four-year extension worth $68 million with $43 million guaranteed. The club surrendered a 2025 third-round pick and a conditional 2026 fifth that converts to a fourth if Porter logs 85 percent of defensive snaps this season. Two other NFC clubs—one from the West division, one from the South—submitted offers in the final 72 hours, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Porter, 24, started 15 games for Pittsburgh in 2024 and allowed a passer rating of 78.4 when targeted, per Pro Football Focus. The Cowboys have cycled through seven starting cornerbacks opposite Trevon Diggs since 2022. Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer wanted length; Porter stands six-foot-two with 32-inch arms. The extension pays $17 million per year average, slotting Porter as the league's 11th-highest-paid corner by annual value, just behind Minnesota's Byron Murphy at $17.5 million.
The trade carries second-order cost. Dallas now holds five picks in the 2025 draft—no selection in the third round, where the franchise has historically found rotational edge defenders and swing tackles. The Cowboys also waived linebacker Damone Clark to create the cap room for Porter's signing bonus, absorbing $2.1 million in dead money. Clark started 31 games over two seasons and was the signal-caller in Zimmer's base package. His departure leaves a hole at Mike linebacker three weeks before organized team activities.
The urgency reflects owner Jerry Jones's public comments in March that the roster window remains open as long as quarterback Dak Prescott and edge rusher Micah Parsons anchor the core. Prescott is signed through 2028 at $60 million per season. Parsons enters the final year of his rookie deal and is seeking an extension that would reset the edge market north of $30 million annually. Porter's deal suggests the front office is willing to pay second-tier premium prices to avoid another January exit. Dallas has won 12 games in each of the past three regular seasons and zero playoff games.
The Steelers moved Porter after signing free-agent corner Patrick Peterson to a one-year, $4 million deal and drafting USC's Jaylin Smith in the second round. Pittsburgh general manager Omar Khan prioritized cap flexibility; Porter's extension would have consumed roughly 14 percent of the team's 2026 cap space under the projected $273 million ceiling. The Steelers now hold eight picks in the 2025 draft, including three in the top 100 selections.
Watch for Dallas to address linebacker depth in the second wave of free agency—names like Lavonte David and Eric Kendricks remain unsigned. The club also needs to finalize its pre-draft visit list by May 10; cornerback is no longer a need, but edge depth opposite Parsons is thin after the release of veteran Dante Fowler in February. The Cowboys host the Steelers in Week 5, a Sunday night game at AT&T Stadium that will now carry the obvious subplot.
Porter's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, negotiated the extension directly with Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones over a 36-hour window last weekend. The deal includes a fifth-year void that spreads cap charges and keeps Dallas under the $255.4 million salary cap for 2025. Porter is the second son of a former NFL star to receive a nine-figure extension this offseason, following Saints linebacker Zaire Franklin, whose father played tight end for nine seasons. The Cowboys have now committed $131 million in guarantees to their secondary since 2023, more than any NFC East rival and more than they have spent on the offensive line in the same period.
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