Washington Commanders outside linebacker Von Miller (24) rushes past Dallas Cowboys offensive tackle Tyler Guyton (60) during an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Gareth Patterson/AP
OXNARD, Calif. — Stephen Jones wasn’t making a sales pitch for edge rusher Von Miller to sign with the Cowboys but simply telling him what he envisions.
Jones, the Cowboys co-owner, told Miller on Sunday that when DeMarcus Ware left the Cowboys in a salary cap dump after the 2013 season everything went well for him. Ware signed with the Denver Broncos and in his second season became a Super Bowl champion.
“When I talked to him, I go, ‘Let’s pull the reverse,’ ’’ Jones recalled in a Monday morning conversation with The Dallas Morning News. “D-Ware left here back in the day and he went and played with Von in Denver and they won one. So I said, ‘Let’s turn the tables and have you come to Dallas and play with this crew we’ve put together and let’s win one here.’ Of course, he loved the idea — who doesn’t — he was fired up about it.”
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Miller, a DeSoto native, has spent the last several years hoping to sign with his hometown team. He’s already a two-time Super Bowl champion. He’s tied with Ware for ninth in career sacks at 138.5. He’s a Super Bowl MVP and a three-time All-Pro. He was also named to the 2010 All-Decade Team, which almost assures you of earning a bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Miller has basically done everything necessary as an elite pass rusher, other than play for his hometown team.
The Cowboys believe Miller, as one coach said, brings some juice to the pass rush. It’s nothing against current players Donovan Ezeiruaku, Rashan Gary and Malachi Lawrence, among others.
“You can’t have enough rushers in this league,” Jones said. “It’s a long season and certainly to put him, Ezeiruaku, Gary, Malachi is having a hell of a camp. There is James Houston and Sam [Williams] and we’ve got a good group of guys. But I just feel like between Coach [Brian] Schottenheimer, [defensive coordinator] Christian [Parker], Jerry, myself, that this was the right thing for us.”
The Cowboys have been working on upgrading the pass rush most of the offseason. They couldn’t complete a trade for Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders. The front office moved on and acquired Gary in a trade with the Green Bay Packers.
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Jadeveon Clowney, who led the team in sacks last season, wasn’t a scheme fit. So he signed with the Houston Texans.
Miller kept waiting. He posted on social media asking for the Cowboys to bring him home.
The front office said they were looking for pass rusher, but the money and the timing had to work. Owner Jerry Jones didn’t cross Crosby off his list. He made a point to say he didn’t close a book on a deal, but the Raiders did.
Miller at 37 seemed like a logical fit. He’s a veteran presence looking to close out his career that will now enter Year 15.
“When you talk about signing a player, everything’s got to come together from a player’s timing standpoint, from our standpoint,” Jones said. “I don’t know that we could have, would have done it earlier. He was a guy that we were aware of. Obviously, Christian has a history with him and doing the work on him.”
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Miller isn’t the first player to publicly campaign for employment with the Cowboys. Remember, Seattle’s Earl Thomas chased former coach Jason Garrett to the Cowboys locker room begging for the Jones family to work out a deal.
Derrick Henry, who owned a home in North Texas, held out his resume for the Cowboys’ front office to look at.
Henry and Thomas played elsewhere.
Miller is a little different.
He’s homegrown. DeSoto’s finest. Played at Texas A&M. There’s something to be said for bringing a local kid back home to play.
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Crosby went to Colleyville Heritage and that made sense, too, but the trade compensation was too much for the Cowboys.
It’s a one-year deal with a base salary of $5.5 million with incentives that could reach $7.5 million.
Miller will arrive at training camp at some point Monday night. The objective is not to get him ready to practice this week — because, does it matter? — but to get him ready for Week 1 at the New York Giants.
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The Cowboys got another needed pass rusher.
“It just made sense for us to get it done,” Stephen Jones said. “And from a timing standpoint, this is when it came together.”