FRISCO, Texas – My, oh my, what a difference two days make.
Why, here was the Dallas Cowboys' situation on Wednesday morning as they were preparing for their first full practice after arriving home mid-morning on Monday, still hurting physically and mentally from that 34-31 last-second loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro.
Their injury-depleted secondary was down to two starters healthy enough to fully practice: veteran cornerback DaRon Bland and versatile rookie defensive back Caleb Downs, capable of playing safety, nickel slot corner or even dime linebacker. That's it for the starting five.
No versatile cornerback Cobie Durant (hamstring), having missed the Rio trip and expected to be out for a few more games and for sure Sunday against the 0-3 Texans at Reliant Stadium.
No versatile safety P.J. Locke (torn plantar fascia), having been placed on injured reserve last week, meaning out for at least the mandatory four weeks.
No veteran safety Jalen Thompson, already having been placed on IR-Return after suffering a severe hamstring injury 27 snaps into the Rio game.
No veteran safety Malik Hooker (forearm), having missed the past two games but at least working on a limited basis this week and finally fully practicing on Friday, expected to play in the noon start at Houston.
Unsure of young cornerback Shavon Revel at the time, having suffered a sprained knee and ankle late in the fourth quarter on this past Sunday, and would miss the team portion of practice that afternoon and Thursday but fully practicing on Friday and taken off the injury report for Sunday.
Oh, and almost forgot, fourth-round draft choice cornerback Devin Moore, who has been on injured reserve since the start of the season.
Now here is what they did have, or at least the players on the field or available for that ill-fated final play from scrimmage attempting to defend the crushing 27-yard pass that set up the game-winning 56-yard field goal, besides the aforementioned starters Bland and Downs:
Third-year cornerback Caleb Carson, playing in his first game of the season against the Ravens.
Second-year nickel cornerback Reddy Stewart, the 2024 undrafted rookie free agent elevated off the practice squad, making his 2026 season debut by playing two snaps in the Rio game.
Second-year safety Elijah Clark, the 2025 undrafted rookie free agent who was playing his first 20 defensive snaps of the season against the Ravens.
Fifth-year safety Markquese Bell, the 2022 undrafted rookie free agent ostensibly having made the team this year as a special teams contributor, playing in his second game of the season.
Third-year cornerback Ameer Speed, basically a special teams guy, his four defensive snaps against the Ravens giving him eight in two games played this season.
No way meant to be excuses, but pure fact.
Hello, Joey Porter Jr., a fourth-year cornerback, the first pick in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, having started 41 of 47 games played there in three seasons. The Cowboys completed a Wednesday late-night trade for him, considered one of the top corners in the league.
This bleak secondary situation sure appeared much brighter when seeing No. 25 on the practice field these past two days, a wide-smiling Porter super happy to be here at The Star after a contentious contract squabble with the Steelers this summer. And sure didn't mind his agent interrupting his night at the movies Wednesday to deliver the news.
"I was excited, I'm not even going to lie," Porter said with a wide grin. "I was blessed. I called my peoples. They were excited with me. New chapter, new beginning, and I'm ready."
You're ready? Man, the Cowboys are ready, sitting here at 1-2 heading to Houston, knowing they are one of 13 NFC teams with either a 2-1 or 1-2 record heading into Week 4.
Specifically ready is Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker, and when considering the dire secondary situation, no need to even ask him the first question about how Porter fits into his defense.
"He fits well," Parker needlessly said, almost with an "are you kidding" giggle.
Hell yes, Porter fits well. First, he's healthy, despite all these back complaints this offseason in Pittsburgh, where he was trying to negotiate an extension to the $3 million final year of his rookie contract that only had $1.44 million left in guarantees while the Steelers were balking. That's something the Cowboys know all about with players over these past few years.
And as for all this back-it is stuff, Porter passed his Cowboys physical. Otherwise, they would not have taken a chance sending a 2027 sixth-round pick and a 2028 second to the Steelers, who were willing to unload the headache before Thursday night's fourth game of the season, a 27-24 loss to Cleveland – winners of three straight (3-1), by the way. Pittsburgh dropped to 2-2 themselves in Mike McCarthy's return home.
And as for his "fit" in the Cowboys' somewhat struggling defense, to use a Parker term, "on the grass," that's exactly where he fits in any scheme, in any role. Now, the Cowboys sure will slow-play it, not wanting to rush toward any conclusions since Porter has only practiced with the team twice now after Friday's workout, Parker saying all the right things, like he "just got here," and we have to "figure things out."
OK, well, let me suggest: As soon as he seems game-ready, Porter immediately starts at outside cornerback. Bland on one side, Porter on the other. Downs lines up either in the slot when in nickel and likely deep safety in the base defense, and who knows, maybe at linebacker when they go dime. But let's face it, Downs in these past two games, whatever the Cowboys were in, whatever the situation was, their first-round draft choice has not come off the field, now having played 135 consecutive defensive snaps.
Downs has played 96 percent of the defensive snaps in these first three games, and even 19 more on special teams, of all things, while playing that much on defense. Yet that's been enough to rank second on the team with three special teams tackles and one forced fumble.
So, him, too, "on the grass," Parker actually saying, "I prefer to have Caleb on the field as much as humanly possible. … We'll make sure he's on the grass for sure."
Now the only question on Porter is when. When does he first play? And remember, the 6-2, 193-pound corner with arms seemingly extending forever has not played in a game yet this season. Not regular season for the Steelers, not preseason. In fact, since complaining of back issues, likely having become a negotiating ploy for a contract extension or to force a trade, the Steelers placed him at the start of training camp on PUP and did not remove him until the 53-man roster was set on Aug. 30. Then, Porter on the active roster became a "hold-in."
According to Porter, he says, "I'm ready to go," meaning at noon Sunday against the Texans at Reliant.
According to Parker, it was more of a "we'll see."
And as for head coach Brian Schottenheimer, he actually did say, "From what I saw from him out there (Thursday), hopefully he'll be ready to play in this game."
By Friday morning here at The Star, Schotty said Porter was "trending the right way,"and as further indication of possibly playing on a limited basis against the Texans, Porter is not being listed on the Cowboys' official Friday NFL Practice Report, meaning no injury issue and will travel with the team to Houston, all boding well for being suited up.
And stop the presses. At nearly 4 p.m. Friday, Cowboys co-owner and COO Stephen Jones, when giving an injury report on his 105.3 The Fan segment, waited until the end to say, "We actually think Joey is going to get snaps" on Sunday.
Hey, not like Porter needs to remember how to play football, and as for schemes, the Cowboys can make it pretty simple. You line up here and cover that guy in front of you over there.
The Cowboys must be deciding if Porter is physically fit to play some. The last thing they need is for this guy to go out there and strain a hamstring, so the trainers must be signing off on the possibility come Sunday. And with Houston star receiver Nico Collins off the injury report on Friday, that might be increasing Porter's need to play.
And please, don't even worry about what happens when some of the aforementioned injured players are healthy enough to return. All you need to hear are these words from Parker, having called Porter an "eraser."
"I think when you have a guy who can erase things one-on-one on the backside, then you can do different things to manipulate coverages," Parker said. "You can add a plus-one to the different areas of the field; you can add a plus-one on the run defense. Now, you don't want to put guys on an island the whole game, but you can definitely move pieces around to kind of make things better."
And not to worry about a guy playing on the final year of his contract. Think George Pickens. If nothing else, if Porter plays well the final 14 games of the season, they realize, like Pickens, for what the Cowboys paid trading for him, that at least ensures a franchise tag in 2027, for the likely price of a few million more than this year's $21.16 million cornerback tag if unable to come to an agreeable extension package. Plus, look at it this way: If the Cowboys can't afford to re-sign Porter to a long-term deal and lose him in free agency in 2027, they likely would receive a third-round compensatory pick for a guy that talented.
But no way Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will allow those draft-choice assets to go to waste if Porter is what they are projecting him to be, knowing this acquisition is not just about this season, as he has claimed all year about Pickens, going on to say this about the Porter personnel move:
"It's important to think big."
Make no mistake, this move is big. And not just a tourniquet trying to save this season. This is taking advantage of an opportunity, just the way the Cowboys did last season trading for now four-time Pro Bowl veteran defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, more of a long-term acquisition than for immediate repair.
So here the Cowboys go. It's "Friday, Friday," as the song goes, a long way from Wednesday, but can't wait for Sunday.
