I’ve Covered Joey Porter Jr. for Years… Cowboys Fans Need to Know This

The Cowboys just landed Joey Porter Jr. — but exactly how good is their new cornerback?

I might be uniquely qualified to answer that one.

I cover the Cowboys every day in North Texas, and Newbear and I also host a Steelers podcast. That means I've spent years watching, studying and talking about JPJ. So today, I'm unloading the notebook on EVERYTHING Cowboys fans need to know about their new CB1.

And we're not sugarcoating it.

We'll start with the weaknesses: the tackling, the penalties, the lack of huge interception numbers and the legitimate arguments against calling Porter one of the NFL's elite corners.

Then we'll get to the numbers that make the other side of the argument awfully convincing.

The touchdown drought. The completion percentage. The passer rating. The tight-window coverage. The PBUs. And, maybe most importantly, what he's done when Pittsburgh has asked him to line up against some of the best receivers in football.

CeeDee Lamb. Ja'Marr Chase. Amon-Ra St. Brown. A.J. Brown. Garrett Wilson. Puka Nacua. The résumé is ridiculous.

But this trade is about more than Joey Porter Jr.

We'll break down why Christian Parker called him a “boundary-eraser,” and how adding a legitimate man-cover corner could unlock Caleb Downs, DaRon Bland, Cobie Durant, the Cowboys' pressure packages and the disguise Parker wants to build into this defense.

Did Dallas just acquire one of the missing pieces that could change the entire ceiling of this defense?

And finally: if Porter is this good, why in the world did Pittsburgh trade him — and what does Jerry Jones making another aggressive move tell us about what the Cowboys believe they can become?

It's the complete JOEY PORTER JR. REPORT on How Bout Wow.

@GavinDawson @Newbear