Dallas Cowboys cornerback Joey Porter Jr. wants everyone to know why he has been off the field. He says it is all about his injured foot and has nothing to do with his next contract.

"I don't even know where that narrative come from," Porter said Thursday. "I get it. It's the internet, but I really don't pay no attention to that or really care for that. My goal is to win games and play football."

Porter first hurt his ankle Oct. 4 against the Houston Texans in his first game with Dallas. He could not finish the loss to the Arizona Cardinals and was inactive last week against the Indianapolis Colts.

"The whole foot's jacked up"

Coach Brian Schottenheimer said Porter is also dealing with a heel issue. Porter put it more bluntly.

"The whole foot's jacked up," he said. Porter explained that he played through it for a while but it kept getting worse until he had to shut it down.

He did not practice for the second straight day on Thursday. He worked with resistance cords while reporters watched and said he had done some running and felt confident. He hopes to do more Friday with an eye on playing Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.

"I play a position where I got to guard the most athletic people on the field, so if I can't run, skip or jump, then I'm no use out there," Porter said.

Trying to prove himself

Dallas got Porter from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 1, sending a 2027 sixth-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick. He has played only three full games for the Cowboys. He also missed the Oct. 8 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with an illness.

Porter can become an unrestricted free agent when the season ends, which is where the contract talk came from.

"It's definitely frustrating. I'm on a new team and I want to show these guys what I can do," he said. "I'm just trying to keep the main thing the main thing and get back as fast as possible to play with the guys."