Von Miller was 'ready to come to the Cowboys' for less

OLB Von Miller entered free agency this offseason after winning his second Super Bowl. He spent a decade with the Denver Broncos and won MVP of Super Bowl L. The LA Rams traded for him after Week 7 last season and he went on to help them win Super Bowl LVI. In March, Miller signed with the Buffalo Bills on a six year deal worth $120 million.

NFL teams will line up when a player of Miller’s caliber enters free agency. With that being the case, Miller says one team nearly earned his signing instead of Buffalo. He told The Athletic’s Dan Pompei that he was very close to signing with the Dallas Cowboys.

“I told them I was ready to come to the Cowboys,” said Miller. “I would have taken less to go to Dallas because it’s Dallas. But I wouldn’t take that much less.”

Dallas tried to go in on Miller after missing out on re-signing DE Randy Gregory. In turn, Pompei reported that the Cowboys offered Miller the same deal they offered Gregory at five years, $70 million. Miller is a native of DeSoto, Texas and attended Texas A&M. While he had interest in returning to his home state, doing so for $50 million less wasn’t worth it to the eight time Pro Bowler.

Miller has finished with just one season under 8.0 sacks on a season. Pair that with his tackle numbers and he easily qualifies as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in most NFL seasons.

This will be a gut punch to Cowboy fans knowing they could have added one of the NFL’s best players to anchor their defense. Dallas is now left with neither Gregory nor Miller heading in to the 2022 season. Meanwhile, Miller will be a key piece on yet another Super Bowl contender in the Bills this fall.