Three weeks into the 2026 season the NFL trade market already has a clear name at the top of it, and it is not the one everybody spent the offseason arguing about. Pittsburgh cornerback Joey Porter Jr. is the player most likely to change teams before the November 10 deadline.
ESPN reported Sunday that a handful of clubs have called the Steelers about Porter, with Dallas and Detroit among them. Pittsburgh has signaled it is willing to listen while asking for a serious return, reportedly something in the range of a first and a third, or a second plus additional pieces.
Why Porter is the one who actually moves
The Porter situation has every ingredient a real deadline deal needs: an unhappy player, an unsigned contract, and a front office with a hard policy against negotiating extensions once the regular season begins. He has already missed time under what the team has called a conditioning designation, and standoffs like that rarely resolve themselves quietly.
Pittsburgh is winning games with Aaron Rodgers, so nobody should read this as a fire sale. The Steelers have simply decided that a corner they will not pay is worth more as draft capital than as an absentee. Both sides want the same outcome and the deadline is roughly six weeks out. That combination gets deals done.
Maxx Crosby is the loudest name and the least likely
Crosby has lived in trade rumors since February. Baltimore had a deal lined up in August before backing out over concerns about his repaired meniscus, and the noise never fully stopped. Then the Raiders started 3-0 with Kirk Cousins throwing three touchdowns and no interceptions in a 35-27 win over New Orleans.
Crosby spent that postgame talking about how much he likes this locker room. Las Vegas would have to collapse and someone would have to offer multiple first-round picks. Neither looks close to happening.
The rest of the board
Kayvon Thibodeaux is the most logical mid-tier trade in football. He is playing out a fifth-year option on a Giants defense that puts Brian Burns and Abdul Carter ahead of him, and his snap share has sat under 50 percent. Chicago, Baltimore and New England have all been floated. A third-round pick probably gets it done.
Khalil Mack is the veteran rental to watch. He is 35, on a one-year deal worth $18 million fully guaranteed, and the Chargers are 0-3 with a brutal stretch ahead. Mack has never won a Super Bowl. If Los Angeles keeps sliding, letting him chase one somewhere else is both the decent move and the smart one.
Behind them sit Mac Jones, the best backup quarterback in the league on an expiring contract in San Francisco, and Josh Sweat, who at 29 fits a contender better than a rebuilding Arizona roster. Cleveland will take calls on Jerry Jeudy, whose role has shrunk behind younger receivers.
The prediction
Porter gets traded, and it happens well before the final hour. The Steelers are competitive enough that they need a usable pick rather than a lottery ticket, and a starting corner sitting out on a manufactured designation helps nobody. Dallas has the draft capital and the secondary problems to be the team that blinks first.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.