The Dallas Cowboys made the most significant move of the season so far by swinging a trade for Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. Apparently, Porter could have headed to a different NFC team had the Detroit Lions gotten their way.
Coach Dan Campbell confirmed Friday that the Lions were one of the teams in the mix for Porter. The Lions' interest was previously reported ahead of the trade, and Campbell seemingly confirmed that reporting.
"(General manager) Brad (Holmes), he's been on it for a while," Campbell said, via the Detroit News. "That's been ongoing. Everything's got to align right. Cowboys did what they wanted to do. We were very much in on him."
The Lions have significant needs in the defensive backfield. They cut former first-round pick Terrion Arnold this offseason after an arrest, and their top two safeties — Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph — remain on injured reserve.
They're currently running Rock Ya-Sin and D.J. Reed as their top outside cornerbacks, and opponents have been having a ton of success attacking those matchups on the perimeter. Players like Chris Olave (10 catches for 182 yards), Devaughn Vele (7-69-1), Keon Coleman (6-63-0) and Garrett Wilson (10-107-1) have gone off for huge games.
Opposing quarterbacks are 23 of 35 for 317 yards and two touchdowns overall when throwing at those two players specifically, according to Pro Football Focus. That's the equivalent of a 113.6 passer rating. For perspective, the league average so far this year is 93.4.
In other words, it makes a lot of sense that the Lions would have been interested in Porter. We obviously don't know what they were offering the Steelers in exchange for the quarterback, but we know it didn't match the 2028 second-round pick and 2027 sixth-round pick that Dallas sent to Pittsburgh.
It's probably unlikely that a corner as good as Porter will come on the market between now and the deadline, but the Lions should certainly be in the mix for whichever players at the position do become available because they definitely still need help on the back end. Their offense is clearly good enough to compete with the best in the league, but their defense will have to improve if they want to be a true contender when the playoffs roll around.
