Von Miller revealed the star linebacker likely wasn’t as close to signing with the Dallas Cowboys as we previously thought.
Back in early-June, it was reported that Miller was interested in signing as a free agent with the Cowboys. So much so, Miller contacted his former Denver Broncos teammates and Dallas legend DeMarcus Ware to gauge Jerry Jones’ interest in signing him. Ware said he passed the information along to Jones and things fizzled out from there.
Miller is from DeSoto, Texas, which is 15 miles south of Dallas. He played college ball at Texas A&M, so naturally he wanted to come back home and play in the Lone Star state again.
But that all went to the wayside when Miller signed a six-year, $120 million contract with the Buffalo Bills. But before signing with the Bills, Miller said the Cowboys offered him the same contract they tried giving to Randy Gregory (five-years, $70 million), and while Miller told Dallas he’d take less to join the team, he wasn’t willing to go quite that low. Miller said:
“I told them I was ready to come to the Cowboys. I would have taken less to go to Dallas because it’s Dallas. But I wouldn’t take that much less.”
After it became apparent the Cowboys’ offer wasn’t going to be in the same stratosphere as the Bills, Miller decided to pack his bags and head to the Northeast. After seeing the figures each team offered, who can blame him.
Should the Cowboys have raised their offer?
While the signing would’ve looked great on paper and made for fun offseason discussion, did the Cowboys dodge a bullet by passing on Miller?. He’s 33-years-old and by the time his deal with Buffalo ends, he’ll be 39.
Miller still had a great 2021 season; he had 9.5 sacks and his veteran leadership helped the Los Angeles Rams win a Super Bowl. But giving an aging player with lots of mileage $120 million over six years is a bad long term investment.
But the Bills are in win-now mode. They were one possession away from beating the Kansas City Chiefs and making it to the AFC Championship game. While Miller may not be an impact player towards the end of this contract, he’ll likely be a difference maker for the next year or two.
The Cowboys are in win-now mode, too. They have a franchise QB in Dak Prescott and it’s unclear how many more years Ezekiel Elliott will be effective. They also have young players like Micah Parsons, Trevon Diggs and CeeDee Lamb on team friendly deals. Once it’s time to renew their contracts, they’ll be forced to make tough decisions at other positions to keep the stars.
Time will tell if Miller can get it done again this season for the Bills, but it seems to have been a worthy move for Dallas to push their chips in for the next one-to-two years of Miller before his age really catches up to him.
