Dallas Cowboys cornerback Joey Porter Jr. finds himself under renewed scrutiny heading into Sunday night’s matchup against the Green Bay Packers.
After practicing fully on Thursday, the former Pittsburgh Steelers defender appeared on Friday’s injury report as limited with an ankle issue and is listed as questionable.
The timing has fueled skepticism among observers who already questioned his availability earlier in the season.
Porter Jr. arrived in Dallas via trade after missing the Steelers’ first four games with a reported back injury.
Once with the Cowboys, he was sent home from the stadium prior to last week’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with an illness.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones addressed the situation Friday on 105.3-FM The Fan, rejecting any suggestion that contract status is affecting Porter’s commitment.
“Oh, absolutely,” Jones said when asked if the cornerback is fully invested. “I think he’s all in. 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.”
Not everyone shares that confidence.
Steelers fans, in particular, have tracked Porter’s absences closely since he pushed for a new deal in Pittsburgh and ultimately forced his way out. Their distrust crystallized in a lengthy post from superfan Yinzer G, who laid out a specific theory about the pattern of injuries and illnesses.
“You need to be on an NFL team’s active, inactive, Injured Reserve (IR), or Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list for 6 games to obtain an accrued season in the NFL,” Yinzer G wrote (h/t Tony Adame of Heavy.com).
“Scam Porter Jr knows this. This is why he has faked a back injury, an illness and now an ankle injury. After this week he will have fully accrued enough time this season to be an unrestricted FA at the end of the year. He can just go home for the rest of the season and not have to keep doing this charade anymore. The Cowboys got played, even worse than the Steelers got played. The question is tho, what team will be stupid enough to offer him a contract next year?”
The Cowboys have little margin for error in the secondary as they host the Packers in prime time.
Whether Porter takes the field will be decided after Saturday’s final practice window, but the broader questions about his long-term intentions are unlikely to fade regardless of Sunday’s outcome.
For a player who entered the league with pedigree as the son of a former Steelers linebacker, the current narrative centers less on his coverage skills and more on the accumulating doubts surrounding his availability.
