Joey Porter Jr. isn’t hiding how badly he wants another shot at the Steelers.
Fresh off his trade to the Dallas Cowboys, Porter Jr. told Michael Irvin on “The White House” podcast that he’s already circling the next time he gets to line up against Pittsburgh.
"I'm waiting for that... I'm overly looking forward to that, OG.
I can't wait for that matchup," Porter Jr. said. "Whenever it happens, I'm looking forward to it.
I'm licking my chops."
That feeling lines up with how the situation played out in Pittsburgh. Porter Jr. was away from the team for the first three weeks of the season, and even though the absence was tied to a back injury on the surface, it was widely understood that the real issue was contract-related. His camp and the Steelers never got an extension done before Week 1, and with the final year of his rookie deal underway, Porter Jr. chose to sit out without a new agreement.
When he spoke publicly for the first time as a Cowboy last week, Porter Jr. said the whole process left him feeling burned.
"It was a hard process, a lot of ups and down," Porter Jr. said, per the Forth Worth Star-Telegram's Nick Harris. "Definitely felt disrespected and undervalued.
But that’s old news now. That’s how I look at it.
I’m onto new beginnings and new chapters, that’s how I’m looking at it.”
The split looked pretty complete by then. Porter Jr. got on the field for Dallas in Week 4, playing 25 defensive snaps without any extension in hand and with no guarantee one was coming. That alone said plenty about where his head was with Pittsburgh.
His father made it even clearer there wasn’t much warmth left. Joey Porter Sr. said, "They tried to take me away from football for four weeks,” and, "They held us down for three weeks... Football is back," while celebrating the Cowboys' win over the Houston Texans.
As for when Porter Jr. might actually get his wish, the schedule doesn’t make it easy. Pittsburgh won’t see the NFC East again until the 2028 season. The Steelers do have the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11, though, because both teams finished in first place last year while the AFC North and NFC East last matched up two seasons ago.
Still, there’s a path for Porter Jr. to face Pittsburgh sooner than that. If he doesn’t land a new deal with Dallas in the offseason and doesn’t stay there through the franchise tag, he could end up on another team for 2027 - and if that happens, the Steelers could be back on the schedule next year depending on where he lands.
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