Steelers: Joey Porter Jr's Cowboys Situation Sparks Comment From Stephen Jones

The Pittsburgh Steelers have not yet earned the conditions for the 2027 sixth-round pick they were set to receive from the Dallas Cowboys as part of the trade that sent Joey Porter Jr. off to Texas after a long and drawn-out contract dispute. 

That could change on Sunday.

The Steelers received a 2028 second-round pick for Porter. The cornerback must be active for two games in order for Pittsburgh to secure the conditional sixth-round pick. Porter played against the Houston Texans in Week 4, but missed Week 5 due to an illness.

Porter was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday and Friday (he was a full participant on Thursday) and given a questionable designation for Dallas' Week 6 contest against the Green Bay Packers on "Sunday Night Football." 

During an appearance on 105.3 The Fan on Friday, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones was asked if the team has any concerns on a potential holdout by Porter, much like how he dealt with the Steelers during training camp and the start of the regular season, and if they had assurance Porter was ready to go for the rest of the season.

Per Jon Machota of The Athletic, Jones said Porter wants to be out there playing, and thinks he's all in.

“Oh, absolutely. I think he’s all in," Jones said. "He wants to be out there. He was sick, he couldn’t play last week with the flu. But he obviously played in our first game and I think he’s fired up about what he can do to help us win against the Packers."

The "think" word will be very loud for the Cowboys and Steelers until at least Sunday night. If Porter suits up against the Packers, the Steelers can lock down their conditional pick. 

Of course, Pittsburgh thought Porter would be ready to go this season until he wasn't. Then the back issues started popping up on the injury report, with the cornerback being made inactive to play.

The key difference in the two situations is that Porter has at least played for the Cowboys. And he did well, giving up zero receptions on 24 snaps against the Texans.

Still, the language of the conditional pick was odd, where Porter has to be active in two games for Pittsburgh to receive the pick. 

Earlier in the week, Porter suggested he would be ready to play a larger role against Green Bay than the one he had against the Texans, just days after being traded from Pittsburgh.

If true, that would be huge news for the Cowboys and Steelers.