The news of the day is the Dallas Cowboys’ blockbuster trade for Steelers star cornerback Joey Porter Jr. We had all heard the rumors floating around, but personally, I didn’t believe it would happen until the trade notification hit my phone late last night.
Dallas has been telling us they have no problem getting aggressive on the trade market once again, and they stuck to their word; this deal cost them a 2027 6th-round pick and a 2028 2nd-round pick, so it was not cheap by any metric.
In return, they get a guy who, when healthy, is clearly the best cornerback on the Cowboys roster and one of the top-10 at his position in the entire NFL.
Now, we haven’t seen him on the field with a star on his helmet yet, and Dallas is dealing with several injuries, but when you look at the defense on paper now, it looks like a transformed unit from that abysmal 2025. Let’s talk about it.
When Healthy, the 2026 Cowboys Defense is Transformed
Of course, the Cowboys defense is not fully healthy at the moment; they are dealing with injuries to Malik Hooker, Jalen Thompson, Cobie Durant, DeMarvion Overshown, etc. Luckily, none of these injuries are expected to be season-ending at this point.
There is, therefore, a world where a fully healthy defense contains eight new starters compared to the Week 1 2025 squad; that is a full-scale transformation, and it includes a new defensive coaching staff as well.
Guys like DaRon Bland, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Malik Hooker, and Kenny Clark are back, but Quinnen Williams, Rashan Gary, DeMarvion Overshown, Dee Winters, Jaishawn Barham, Porter Jr., Caleb Downs, Thompson, and more are all guys “added” to the D since last year.
Not all of these guys are performing as you might hope quite yet, but you can’t deny the amount of on-paper talent Dallas has assembled on this side of the ball in such a short amount of time.
More importantly, there is finally some margin for error. The Cowboys don’t need the young guys to become stars overnight (though Downs and Barham are trying to be), or one cornerback to carry the entire secondary. Porter gives them a legitimate shutdown option opposite Bland.
Will it all come together? That remains to be seen, especially with how many moving pieces this defense has right now.
However, when compared to where Dallas was a year ago, the difference is night and day. On paper, this defense is one that has enough talent to actually become a strength of this football team over time.
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