FRISCO, Texas — Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker described new cornerback Joey Porter Jr. as a boundary eraser Thursday and said he has tracked him since the 2023 draft, when Parker was coaching in Denver.
The Dallas Cowboys acquired Porter from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday night for a 2028 second-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick. Parker said vice president of player personnel Will McClay walked into a third-down game-plan meeting to tell him the deal was done.
“Yeah, it was Wednesday. We were in game-plan meetings, working on third down. So that was a good break,” Parker said. “Now it extended the night a little bit because I had to step out, had to have some conversations or whatever. So it was a, that’s always a late night, but it was later than usual because of that. But it was for good reason.”
Christian Parker Gave A One-Line Answer On Joey Porter Jr.
When the front office brought Porter to him, the conversation was short. Parker said Dallas had a clear feel for what he wants at each position after free agency, the draft, and cutdowns.
“Yeah, I mean the conversation was, hey, do you like this player? Yeah, I do. And that’s really the extent of it,” Parker said. “So yeah, they do a great job of, after going through free agency, after going through the draft, after going through the final 53 process, there’s a really good feel on both sides in terms of what we like. But again, you’re not going to turn down good players. You’re going to make things work from that. He certainly fits what we do and how we want to play.”
Porter played with length and a competitive edge coming out of Penn State, Parker said, and that has not changed.
“Yeah, I was familiar with him when he was at Penn State coming out of the draft. I was in Denver at the time,” Parker explained. “Same player he is now, played with great length, was a boundary eraser, plays with a really competitive edge to him that we value. So he’s a guy that I’ve tracked over the years.”
Christian Parker Explains What A Boundary Eraser Does For The Cowboys
A corner who can handle one-on-one matchups on the backside frees Parker to add help elsewhere, he said, though he does not want to leave Porter on an island all game.
“A lot. I think that when you have guys who can erase things, one-one matchups on the backside, then you can do different things to manipulate coverage,” Parker said. “You can add plus-ones in different areas of the coverage. You can add plus-ones in different areas of the field. You can add plus-ones in run defense. You don’t want to put guys on the island the whole game, but you can definitely move some pieces around to make other things better.”
Much of what Dallas plays is pattern-match zone, which turns into man coverage for the corners once routes develop.
“Well, I think the first thing is a lot of zones in the world that we live in are pattern-match zones. So once it gets past a certain point, you’re playing man,” Parker said. “So especially at the corner position, whether you’re playing quarters, you’re playing Cover Three, you’re playing man-to-man truly, more times than not corners are in situations where they’re responsible for number one.”
Porter has drawn penalties and has three career interceptions. Parker said the staff will assess his mindset first and use the drills other coaches have tried.
“When you play an aggressive style of ball, penalties are going to be a part of the deal. It is what it is. You obviously want to limit those,” Parker said. “So there are certain things you do in practice that have been done in the past, whether you’re putting boxing gloves on guys to prevent holding or you’re doing more ball drills. The more that you can do, the better in terms of raising awareness. The most important thing is not letting the guy that’s getting targeted catch the football. The next step is catching it yourself.”
Porter’s onboarding over his first two days was a lot of meetings, walkthrough time, and film, Parker said, and the staff also has to check his conditioning after he missed the first three weeks.
“Obviously we have to get him onboarded relative to where’s his conditioning, his body, everything. Everybody else is three games into this thing, so we got to check his temperature there,” Parker said. “Then there’s also the mental tax of learning a new scheme. How much can you learn? Is it packages? Is it situational things? I think every player is different. I’ve been in a bunch of different ones where you sign somebody one week and they’re out there as a first responder on Sunday, and it’s been some, it’s more of a slow burn.”
Porter worked one-on-one with Parker during Thursday’s practice. Porter said Parker had told him how long he had liked his game.
“Me and him had a couple, not too many conversations, but the main thing was just really getting the defense under wraps and talking about the process of getting here and how long he liked my game and really wanted me to get in the building,” Porter said. “So once you’ve got a D.C. on your side like that and he’s rooting for you, it’s really hard not to see that.”
Rookie safety Caleb Downs has played nickel, dime, and safety this season, and Parker said Porter’s arrival does not change his plan to keep Downs on the field as much as possible. Dallas has no interceptions through three games. Porter carries no injury designation for Sunday’s noon CT kickoff against the Houston Texans.
