Cowboys to induct Ware into Ring of Honor

Todd Archer, ESPN Staff WriterAug 23, 2023, 08:01 PM ET
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FRISCO, Texas — DeMarcus Ware’s 2023 keeps getting better. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, Ware will be inducted into the Dallas Cowboys‘ Ring of Honor at some point this season.

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones surprised Ware with the announcement Wednesday after the franchise’s leader in sacks hosted the Cowboys’ kickoff event, bringing Ware’s daughter Marley to the stage — just as he had when he surprised Ware over the winter when he told him he had been selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“I know now when I came here in 2005 and I said I want to etch my name in the star, and I told Jerry that arrogantly when he asked me, ‘What are your goals?'” Ware said. “Every single year I said that. I want to etch my name in stone in the Dallas Cowboys and I worked every single year. And when I left here, when I was released, it hurt because I felt like my dad was sending me away from home. But guess what? I got to come back. And it’s even something more special, which is awesome. So I’m part of the family now.”

Ware was a first-round pick in 2005 and became the Cowboys’ all-time leader in sacks with 118 while being named to the Pro Bowl nine times, a first-team All-Pro four times and being named to the 2000s All-Decade team. He was released in 2013 in a salary cap and spent his final three seasons with the Denver Broncos, winning a Super Bowl.

The Cowboys will announce the game in which Ware will be honored, but it will happen before he receives his Hall of Fame ring Nov. 30 when the Cowboys play the Seattle Seahawks.

“This is, of course, DeMarcus’ organization as far as I’m concerned,” Jones said. “It would be trite to say you guys do understand how seriously I take this Ring of Honor. It’s no cavalier thing with me. And I recognize the fact that it’s a committee of one that makes this happen … I’d like to think that when you go in the Ring of Honor, it also means that that’s not where it stops for the Dallas Cowboys organization … He’s just absolutely what I had in mind and we had in mind, I’m sure [former Cowboys president Tex Schramm] did when he thought of the Ring of Honor.”

Ware’s selection also brings up the question of when Jimmy Johnson will be inducted into the Ring of Honor.

When Johnson was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020, Jones said he would add the two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach into the Ring of Honor but never said when. Jones and Johnson have feuded — and seemingly made up — a number of times since the two parted ways after Super Bowl XXVIII.

“I think that it’s very important to realize this is DeMarcus’ time, this is his year,” Jones said. “He’s a player. Jimmy’s not. Ok? And so I wanted to put him in because it’s him and I wanted to put a player in.”

Fans and former players have clamored for Johnson to be added to the Ring of Honor. Jones turns 81 in October; Johnson, his former teammate at Arkansas, turned 80 last month.

“He’s the youngest 80-year-old you’d ever meet. And I’m right behind him,” Jones said. “And this thing doesn’t run on age. As a matter of fact I would go the other way if I thought somebody was accusing us of trying to beat the clock. I’m not going to let the old man in.”

Jones was talking about himself, not Johnson.