What should the Lions offer the Steelers for Joey Porter Jr.? The NFL’s last 18 cornerback trades give us a pretty good idea, plus a look at how an extension could unfold
Pittsburgh reportedly wants a significant return for Porter, so we went through all 18 in-season cornerback trades since 2021 to find the best comparison — then built a deal and contract Detroit could actually live with.
The Detroit Lions have reached out to the Pittsburgh Steelers about cornerback Joey Porter Jr., and now the question everyone wants answered is simple: what does that trade look like?
Adam Schefter reported that the Steelers are looking for a strong compensation package. When you hear “strong compensation package,” the first thing that comes to mind is a first-round pick. That’s probably what Pittsburgh wants. But here’s the thing: they’re probably not going to get it.
What the last 5 years of in-season cornerback trades tell us
| Year | Player | Trade | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Bradley Roby | HOU → NO | 2022 3rd + 2023 conditional 6th |
| 2021 | C.J. Henderson | JAX → CAR | CAR got Henderson + 2022 5th; JAX got Dan Arnold + 2022 3rd |
| 2021 | Stephon Gilmore | NE → CAR | 2023 6th |
| 2021 | Tay Gowan | ARI → PHI | Gowan + 2022 5th went to PHI for Zach Ertz |
| 2021 | Kary Vincent Jr. | DEN → PHI | 2022 6th |
| 2022 | Rashad Fenton | KC → ATL | Conditional 2023 7th |
| 2022 | William Jackson III | WAS → PIT | PIT got Jackson + conditional 2025 7th; WAS got conditional 2025 6th |
| 2023 | J.C. Jackson | LAC → NE | NE got Jackson + 2025 7th; LAC got 2025 6th |
| 2023 | Rasul Douglas | GB → BUF | BUF got Douglas + 2024 5th; GB got 2024 3rd |
| 2024 | Marshon Lattimore | NO → WAS | WAS got Lattimore + 2025 5th; NO got 2025 3rd + 4th + 6th |
| 2024 | Tre’Davious White | LAR → BAL | BAL got White + 2027 7th; LAR got 2026 7th |
| 2025 | Jarvis Brownlee Jr. | TEN → NYJ | NYJ got Brownlee + 2026 7th; TEN got 2026 6th |
| 2025 | Greg Newsome II / Tyson Campbell | CLE ↔ JAX | JAX got Newsome + 2026 6th; CLE got Campbell + 2026 7th |
| 2025 | Roger McCreary | TEN → LAR | LAR got McCreary + conditional 6th; TEN got conditional 5th |
| 2025 | Michael Carter II | NYJ → PHI | PHI got Carter + 2027 7th; NYJ got John Metchie III + 2027 6th |
| 2025 | Jaire Alexander | BAL → PHI | PHI got Alexander + 2027 7th; BAL got 2026 6th |
| 2025 | Sauce Gardner | NYJ → IND | IND got Gardner; NYJ got 2026 1st + 2027 1st + Adonai Mitchell |
| 2025 | Ja’Sir Taylor | LAC → NYJ | Conditional 2028 7th |
I went back and looked at every in-season cornerback trade from the last five years. There have been 18 of them. Only one player brought back a first-round pick, and that was Sauce Gardner. Joey Porter Jr. is good, but he’s not Sauce Gardner. If the Steelers want a first-round pick for him, they’re not going to get it.
So where does Porter’s value fit among those 18 trades? You look at Bradley Roby in 2021, which was a third and a sixth. Rasul Douglas effectively cost Buffalo a third-round pick, with Green Bay sending a fifth back. Marshon Lattimore cost a third, fourth, and sixth. Greg Newsome and Tyson Campbell involved a cornerback swap, and the Lions don’t really have anything to offer there. The Gardner trade is out because that’s a different tier entirely.
The Rasul Douglas deal feels like the right comparable. A third, with a fifth coming back to Detroit. That’s a totally doable trade for Detroit, and it’s something they could absolutely pull off.
A conditional package that protects the Lions
Another option I’d consider if I were the Lions is a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 conditional third that becomes a second based on Porter’s playing time and Detroit’s postseason performance. That’s a package that protects the Lions. If Porter comes to Detroit and balls out, the third becomes a second. If he doesn’t, it stays a third. You lose a third-round pick, you still have your 2028 second. I think that’s the way to go.
We looked at every first- and second-round pick traded in the last 10 years for a star player, and only four of those teams won a Super Bowl. A lot of people look at that and say, well, that’s 40%. That’s the wrong way to look at it, because it’s about 14% of the teams that made one of these trades. The rest did not have success. A first-round pick should not be on the table. It should not even be something the Lions are thinking about. I wouldn’t even think about a second.
What a Porter extension would look like in Detroit
If the Lions make this trade, they’re going to have to extend Porter. The projection out there, per Spotrac’s model from earlier this month, is four years, $110 million, which comes out to $27.5 million per year. That’s a lot. So how could that deal look? Here’s how we project it could look.
| Year | Base salary | Signing bonus proration | Option bonus proration | Other bonus | Cap hit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | ~$3.5M* | $5.0M | — | — | ~$8.5M* |
| 2027 | $1.3M | $5.0M | $4.0M | $0.2M | $10.5M |
| 2028 | $8.0M | $5.0M | $4.0M | $0.2M | $17.2M |
| 2029 | $23.0M | $5.0M | $4.0M | $0.2M | $32.2M |
| 2030 | $31.9M | $5.0M | $4.0M | $0.2M | $41.1M |
| 2031 — void | — | — | $4.0M | — | $4.0M dead cap |
*Approximate remaining 2026 salary and cap hit at the time of a trade.
It’s very much how the Lions do things now. The first two years would carry low cap hits, allowing Detroit to make any extensions or sign free agents. You’re looking at $10 million in the first year, $17 million in the second, then it jumps to $32 million and $41 million. The good thing is that Porter is young. If you get to 2029 and he’s still playing at a high level, you could restructure or extend him out, kicking the can down the road a little more. That’s how the Lions have worked out every deal, and this structure allows them to get Sam LaPorta’s extension done as well.
The Lions should make this deal
Detroit is financially in a place to do it. They’re schematically in a place to do it. They’re roster-wise in a place to do it, with all the injuries they’re dealing with right now and how bad the secondary has looked the first two weeks. We’ll see what it looks like against the Jets on Sunday, but if I’m the Lions, I’m making this deal all day long, especially if it has nothing to do with a first-round pick. Let’s see what happens.
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