FRISCO, Texas 鈥� Cowboys CB Joey Porter Jr. appears to be trending in the right direction to play against the Texans on Sunday, according to Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones and Brian Schottenheimer.
However, Schottenheimer said that Porter will need to "stack a second day" in practice on Friday in order for Dallas to feel comfortable with having him play in order to make sure he's physically read.
"Go out there and do what he did yesterday, which was really impressive," Schottenheimer said of what Porter would need to do in order to play. "It's not just the understanding of what we do, the communication, which we all know is a big thing. I think we've got a really good plan that if he does play, where we would use him and what that would look like."
For the first time since the Cowboys traded for Porter on Wednesday night, Jones commented on the trade on 105.3 The Fan on Friday morning.
"He's got some different aspects to him that are pluses as a player, as an athlete, his skills," Jones said. "We hope that this is not only an improvement in just generally our personnel, but we hope it can really be one that he really finds his level of abilities or level to perform on the field."
"I would hope it'd mirror the George Pickens move that brought him in. I know that's pretty high bar, that's pretty high expectations, but you have to have them to make a trade like this."
Speaking of Pickens, both he and Porter are going into the final year of their respective contracts. Porter went through an offseason contract negotiation with the Steelers that did not result in an extension, and appears to be playing on the final year of his deal with Dallas in 2026. Would Jones and the Cowboys be interested in keeping Porter in Dallas long term?
"Yes. The answer is yes," Jones said. "And I really don't need to embellish that. On the other hand, by the very nature of the trade, we're working under a existing contract rather than extended contract. Think about it, think about it hard. Let's get in here and let's make each other feel a little better about where we are, not a little better, in these guys' cases it's a monster amount in their lives, a contract at this level."
"But by the same token, there's two to tango here. There's the team and our being comfortable with making that kind of commitment. What you're seeing in both those cases is working through a reasonable way to advance the ball. Advance the ball being be an outstanding player as well as having an outstanding contract."
Jones added that the Cowboys making the trade for Porter "is a belief in where we are and what we can do right now," as "win now mode" has been a term that's often been used to described Dallas' approach to the 2026 season. If they want to get back on track, they'll need to bounce back on Sunday against the Texans in Houston.
