I doubt many Dallas Cowboys fans wanted to stick around for the Thursday Night Football postgame show on Prime Video after the loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But those who did may have caught former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman irresponsibly speculating on why Cowboys cornerback Joey Porter Jr. didn’t play.

If you missed it live, you might have seen the clip on social media afterward. Either way, it’s worth setting the record straight.

Sherman suggested Porter Jr. sat out because he wants a new contract. Specifically, Sherman said, “maybe if they would have given him a new contract, he would have been a little healthier today.”

The comment was unfortunate and nothing but wild speculation. Though Sherman acknowledged he was speculating, it doesn’t take away from how reckless the suggestion was, and the fact that he had zero evidence to even make it viable speculation. Let’s clear the air. 

What actually happened with Joey Porter Jr.

For context, the Cowboys ruled Porter out minutes before kickoff with an illness. That was a shocking development.

After the initial reports emerged, multiple insiders reported Porter Jr. was dealing with a “bad virus” and was “very sick” leading up to the game. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said postgame it got worse after trainers treated him. 

You didn’t have to take anyone’s word for it, either. During pregame, Amazon Prime’s own broadcast showed Porter Jr. leaving the Cowboys locker room. In that video, a staffer walks in front of him holding a trash can. NFL sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung noted that the image summed up his condition. 

"I am told an illness hit [Joey Porter Jr.] fast… Over the course of the next hour in the locker room, his condition got progressively worse… You see him leaving there, a staffer in front of him holding a trash can, which just about sums up his condition." -Kaylee Hartung pic.twitter.com/Cy36v2yfXZ

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 9, 2026

Nothing points to a contract issue

Here’s the thing about Sherman’s theory: nothing supports it.

There is no indication Porter is unhappy with his contract situation after the Pittsburgh Steelers traded him to Dallas. Since day zero of that trade, Porter and the Cowboys have been on the same page about not extending him.

Additionally, Porter said publicly he was ready to take on a full snap count after being limited in his Cowboys debut last Sunday against the Houston Texans. That doesn’t sound like a player looking for a reason to sit.

Even his father, former NFL player Joey Porter Sr., posted on social media on game day morning a picture of the outfit he presumably planned to wear to the game. Families don’t usually plan their game day look around a contract holdout.

To be fair, Sherman admitted during the postgame show that he was speculating. But that doesn’t make it any less irresponsible. He didn’t have a good reason to speculate in the first place.

The Pittsburgh situation was different

Porter has been locked in since he arrived in Dallas. Yes, he was unhappy with his situation in Pittsburgh. But that was a complicated situation, to the point that Steelers insider Mark Kaboly said on ESPN Pittsburgh’s locker room was siding with Porter in his dispute with the team.

That is to say, Porter was never simply a diva chasing more money with the Steelers. And he is definitely not sitting out for contract reasons now. He was genuinely sick. It happens.

Maybe Sherman has been lucky enough to never get hit with a stomach bug. But that certainly wasn’t the case for Porter on Thursday night.

So if you stuck around for the postgame show and Sherman’s words got you worried, don’t be. Everything points toward Porter being genuinely ill. The timing was terrible, especially for a Dallas defense that needed him against Tampa Bay.

But there’s no drama here, despite Sherman’s best efforts.