Jerry Jones isn’t denying the Cowboys are working the phones. He just isn’t naming names.
On Tuesday, the Dallas owner and general manager confirmed that there are “conversations ongoing” about ways to upgrade the roster, but he stopped short of specifically mentioning Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. after reports over the weekend said Dallas had inquired about a possible trade.
The interest makes sense. Dallas’ secondary has been hit hard through the first three weeks of the regular season, with three starters and two key contributors out for multiple weeks.
The list includes safeties Jalen Thomas, Malik Hooker, and P.J. Locke, plus cornerbacks Cobie Durant and Shavon Revel Jr.
With that kind of damage, adding help in the defensive backfield feels like a natural next step. Porter has been tied to the Cowboys since the 2023 draft, and he would check the box for the kind of player Jones said he’d consider bringing in for the 2026-27 campaign: a “substantive player” who can lift the roster.
There’s also a familiar connection between the two franchises. Over the past year, Dallas has acquired George Pickens and Broderick Jones, while Pittsburgh hired former Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy and signed several players from his Dallas tenure.
Still, the trade chatter has a long way to go. The Steelers would reportedly want at least a premium draft pick in return, and the Cowboys’ current stash is limited.
Dallas owns only the lower of its two first-round picks, since the higher one goes to the New York Jets in the Quinnen Williams trade last season. The rest of the haul includes its own second-round pick, a fourth-round pick from the Steelers, a sixth-round pick, and a seventh-round pick from the Houston Texans.
A deal could get more interesting if Pittsburgh would settle for a second-round pick in 2027 plus another Day 2 pick in 2028, but nothing appears close. NFL insider Josina Anderson said in a recent Substack post that the two sides are still apart on value.
"The Cowboys are definitely interested but the two sides have their thresholds on compensation values for a transaction and right now "it doesn’t match,'" she wrote.
For now, that leaves the idea in the realm of speculation. The Cowboys could still become more aggressive if the injuries keep piling up before the NFL trade deadline, but right now this feels more like a dream than a deal for Cowboys Nation - even if that hasn’t stopped fans from imagining it.
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