The Cowboys send the Steelers’ 2027 sixth-round pick and 2028 second-round pick for Joey Porter Jr.

The Cowboys are sending the Steelers two draft picks in the trade that brings cornerback Joey Porter Jr. to Dallas.

The Steelers will get a sixth-round pick in 2027 and a second-round pick in 2028, according to multiple reports. The 2027 sixth-round pick is the Steelers’ sixth-round pick they previously traded to the Cowboys in the George Pickens deal.

For the Cowboys, it’s about immediately bolstering the defense with a player who is in the final year of his contract, while for the Steelers, it’s about acquiring future draft capital for a player who clearly wanted more money than the Steelers were willing to pay.

Whether the Cowboys will pay that money remains to be seen. It would be unusual to trade for a player in the final year of his contract and not give him an extension, but the Cowboys might also think they’ll take the rest of this season out of Porter and then evaluate whether to sign him to a long-term contract or let him enter free agency.

The Cowboys could calculate that getting a good season out of Porter this year and then letting him leave for a lucrative contract with another team wouldn’t be the worst thing, as it would likely land them a third-round compensatory pick in 2028. Essentially, they would lease Porter for one season and only pay him the $3.924 million salary for the final year of his contract, at the cost of moving up from the second to third round in 2028.

For the Steelers, they are losing one of their most talented players, but it had become clear that things weren’t going to work out for Porter in Pittsburgh. He wasn’t happy with his contract and still hasn’t played this season, officially because of a back injury – a back injury that the Steelers perhaps calculated wouldn’t heal until they gave him the contract he wanted.

Whether Porter gets that contract in Dallas this year, in Dallas next offseason, or with another team next offseason, he’s now a Cowboy and the Steelers acquired two draft picks for a player who wanted out.