Before sending him to the Dallas Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers almost sent him elsewhere.
The Pittsburgh Steelers fell to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night, seeing their record drop to 2-2 in the new season.
But prior to the game, the big storyline around the team was the trade of star cornerback Joey Porter Jr. being sent to the Dallas Cowboys. After a long standoff regarding a new contract, Porter was eventually moved for a 2027 sixth-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick.
Losing Porter isn't the scenario that the Steelers wanted to see, but in the end, it seemed to be the best for both sides. Pittsburgh didn't want anymore distractions with contract negotiations, and Porter now gets a chance to get paid from the Cowboys.
But before the star was sent to the Cowboys, the Steelers almost traded him to another team. According to Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell, his team was very deep into talks with Pittsburgh about the star cornerback.
The Lions had been linked to Porter for a while now, but the Cowboys seemingly beat them to the punch. Detroit may not have been willing to include a second-round pick, but that is currently unknown.
But the Steelers seemed to have conversations with multiple teams before pulling the trigger on a trade for the star. Porter now will now move forward with Dallas, looking to help get the Cowboys secondary on track.
Last season, Porter recorded 35 total tackles with one sack and one interception for the Steelers. Pittsburgh has missed his presence on the field this season while he held out, but now they will have to figure out how to replace him.
The Steelers' defense has been susceptible to giving up a lot of yards so far this season, and this will be something that the coaching staff looks to fix moving forward. Against the Browns, Cleveland did almost whatever it wanted against the Steelers, leading to the big win.
The offense was also a problem throughout the game against Cleveland, despite the uptick in play towards the end of the game. Pittsburgh has a lot to work on as the year moves forward; otherwise, this team could be in line for another wasted season.
Next week, the Steelers will be hosting the Indianapolis Colts, offering them a chance to get back on track. So far this season, Pittsburgh is 2-0 at home in front of their fans and 0-2 on the road.
