Thoughts on Joey Porter Jr Going to the Cowboys

Joey Porter Jr was traded to the Cowboys last night. Let’s discuss.

It looked like he was going to be out of Pittsburgh sooner rather than later, and the Steelers bit the bullet and traded him away. He was clearly unhappy with his current contract. He wanted a new one. The Steelers weren't too willing to give him what he wanted, and then he decided he was going to sit out practices and games. The Steelers wouldn't budge, so he all but asked out of there. I thought that the Steelers were going to call his bluff, and wait it out. I figured they would talk to him about how he needed to play to get a new contract, that he would have to show the other teams he still had it and that he would eventually suit up this year.

I also had no idea who they would trade him to, if that was going to be the case. To be honest, I wanted him to go to the Packers,but I want any big time player to go to Green Bay. I thought maybe the Vikings would go after him, but their defense is already really good, and the secondary seems just fine. I figured maybe the Lions would try and trade for him just because they seem all in on this season. But maybe they couldn't afford what the Steelers wanted. Or maybe even the Ravens would try to snag him just to make their defense better where they need to be better. But none of that happened.

Joey Porter Jr is now a Cowboy. The Cowboys currently sit at 1-2, but there's a ton of season left. And they need help defensively. The Cowboys can score. They have proven that in every game so far. But they cannot stop the pass. Like at all. They are kind of abysmal in the secondary. Caleb Downs has all the potential in the world, and he was making plays last week, but he is still a rookie and there is still going to be a learning curve for him. Their d line looks solid, especially after trading for Rashan Gary in the offseason. And they look like they may have found their mike linebacker of the future in third round pick Jaishawn Barham. But that secondary, outside of Downs, is not very good. Joey Porter Jr immediately makes them that much better.

Cornerback is one position that can truly make a massive difference. If you get a player of Porter Jr's caliber, one side of the field is pretty much off limits. We have seen players like this before. Charles Woodson did it in Oakland and Green Bay. Darelle Revis' nickname was "Revis Island". That meant he was putting receivers on an island, and qb's barely ever threw his way. Stephon Gilmore held this role for a few seasons in New England. It is a proven fact that, if you have a lockdown corner, you can win a ton of games and make a deep playoff run. Will Porter Jr do this in Dallas? Time will tell. But he has the potential to make the secondary there go from not so great to pretty damn intimidating. Porter Jr is good in coverage and can tackle guys if they do catch a pass on him. He has all the tools one team could want in a number one cornerback. There is a reason why the holdout from him was covered everywhere in the media. When a player is as good as he is, the media will talk about it endlessly until a deal is done, or the player is traded. And when the trade happened last night, my sports media started to blow up, saying similar stuff to what I'm saying right now.

I do not like the Cowboys. Not at all. But they are clearly trying to go all in and win this season. Maybe they feel like this is the last real chance with Dak at QB. They also have two of the best wideouts in all of football. The o line is okay, but not as good as they used to be. They do need to find a running back that they can rely on. Their run game should be an area of concern. But the defensive secondary is what is holding them back. Their opponents have been able to move the ball through the air on them at will so far this year. Lamar Jackson just carved them the hell up. It was glorious to watch to be honest with you. But now that they are adding Joey Porter Jr to this secondary, that is most likely going to change. The Cowboys defense just got immediately better overnight with the addition of one player. Look, I loathe Jerry Jones, but he made a deal here to make this team better. I don't like to say it, but this move makes the Cowboys are legit playoff threat, and if he shows any of his ability from last season, this Cowboys secondary is going to be infinitely better.

We will see. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.