The Washington Commanders have been trying to fix their secondary for a while now.
Marshon Lattimore was supposed to be the answer. He wasn’t.
Now, Washington is being connected to Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr., and this is one rumor worth paying attention to.
While ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler connected
Dallas, among other teams, to Porter, NFL analyst Easton Butler says that Washington is also in the running.
Porter wants out of Pittsburgh, and the Commanders have been mentioned among the teams interested in acquiring him. There are two problems. Pittsburgh isn’t going to give him away, and Porter is about to get expensive.
Spotrac projects his next contract at roughly $70.3 million over three years. Add the trade compensation Pittsburgh would want, and Washington would be making a serious commitment to a player who hasn’t even turned 27.
Normally, that might be enough to scare a team away. Washington shouldn’t be so quick to hang up the phone.
Commanders still haven’t replaced Marshon Lattimore
It’s easy to forget how big the Lattimore trade felt when Washington made it in 2024. The Commanders were making a playoff push and landed a four-time Pro Bowler who was supposed to take care of one side of the field.
It never really happened. Injuries followed Lattimore to Washington, and when he was on the field, he wasn’t the player the Commanders thought they were getting. His 2025 season ended with a torn ACL, and Washington eventually released him.
So here they are again. Mike Sainristil has become an important piece of the secondary, and Trey Amos gives Washington another young corner to build around. Amik Robertson was also added to the mix, while Rasul Douglas gives the Commanders another veteran option.
That’s not a bad group. It’s also hard to look at it and find the guy Washington can confidently send out every Sunday against an opponent’s best receiver. Porter would be that guy.
Joey Porter Jr. could finish what the Marshon Lattimore trade started
This is where the idea gets interesting. Trading premium draft capital for another corner after what happened with Lattimore sounds like the sort of thing that could make Commanders fans break out in a cold sweat. There is one enormous difference, though.
Lattimore was already 28 when Washington traded for him. Porter is 26. The Commanders wouldn’t be renting a veteran for the end of his prime. They’d be adding a corner who could conceivably spend the next several seasons playing alongside Amos and Sainristil.
That changes the calculation. Washington tried the temporary fix with Lattimore and got burned. The secondary still needs someone capable of taking the toughest assignment on the field.
If Pittsburgh’s price gets anywhere close to reasonable, GM Adam Peters should be interested. The Commanders have already learned what happens when they don’t get this position right.