Steelers' Joey Porter Jr. Trade Doesn't Even Help QB Plan

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers finally traded Joey Porter Jr. in a deal with the Dallas Cowboys. After months of back-and-forth, the Steelers shipped their top cornerback to Dallas for a 2027 sixth-round pick and a 2028 second-round draft choice.

The deal ends the longest ongoing saga of the offseason for the Steelers, but it isn't the satisfactory resolution we all were hoping for.

The return the Steelers received is decent, especially given the circumstances, but it falls short of the team's long term goals. While the second-round choice they acquired is helpful, it's not enough to get the team higher up to grab that franchise-altering quarterback in next year's draft.

QB Class Again Falling Short of Expectations

The majority of the NCAA is set to play the fifth game of their season, and just like last year and the yeawr before, the quarterback class is falling woefully short of expectations. Before the 2026 season began, there were as many as 10 players with first-round grades.

Now, that number feels like three, and it's not even a guarantee that those three players all enter the NFL Draft in 2027. Texas QB Arch Manning might return and the same can be said for Oklahoma State's Drew Mestemaker.

That means getting one of these top prospects will be tough. It will likely require getting into the top 10 or even the top five picks of the draft. Either way, the Steelers have to be prepared to part with their own first-round pick, plus multiple day two picks, or possibly another first-round pick, to move up.

Having that additional second-rounder is huge. That can't be downplayed, especially given the team's history of identifying impact players in Round 2. But it's also the unfortunate reality that it can't help this team go from the 20th pick, for example, to the 7th overall draft choice.

Jul 30, 2026; Latrobe, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (24) observes training camp drills at Saint Vincent College. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

So What Is the Point?

If the Steelers didn't move Porter Jr. in an effort to move up in the 2027 NFL Draft or for a player who can help right now, what was all of this for?

The team-friendly answer is that they needed to end the distraction. After failing to come to terms on a new deal and neither side relenting, a divorce became inevitable and imminent. They had no choice but to find the best trade they could negotiate and finalize it.

The not-so-team-friendly answer is that there is no point. It's a bit of revisionist history on the part of the Steelers after failing to secure a long-term extension with a top defensive player.

The real truth lies somewhere in between. But when it comes to positioning this franchise to improve long-term, this trade only hurt the cause, rather than helping it.

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