OXNARD, Calif. — Von Miller agreed to a one-year contract with the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. The deal is worth $5.5 million and carries a maximum value of $7.5 million. Miller met with reporters Tuesday for the first time since the agreement.
Miller is 37 and entering his 15th NFL season. Sacks have never functioned as a season-long measuring stick for him.
“I can still play football. I can still play football. I can still play football, but I can still contribute in other ways,” Miller said. “On my Super Bowl teams, it’s not just one person that gets it done. I think you can say what you want to say about my play on the field and what I got left. When it comes to being a great teammate, like if it was a Hall of Fame for that, I’m going to the Hall of Fame first ballot, to be honest. I’m probably the best teammate that ever played in the National Football League, and I say that with all confidence in the world.”
“My ability to get people around me to play at a level that they wouldn’t normally play at, I don’t think nobody does that like me,” Miller continued. “And I said the other day that I can contribute 10 to 15 plays. That’s without even being on the field. So you got a game that you play 50 snaps, 60 snaps, something like that. I can win 10 to 15 of those without me being even on the field, without my play, just by my knowledge of the game and getting everybody else to play the level they wouldn’t normally play at. So whether it’s the defensive coordinator, defensive line, young guys, I can contribute in so many different ways to win games.”
The Denver Broncos took Miller second overall in the 2011 draft out of Texas A&M. He has 138.5 sacks in 203 regular season games, the most of any active player, and that total ties DeMarcus Ware for ninth on the official list, which dates to 1982. Miller has eight Pro Bowl selections and three first-team All-Pro selections. He was the Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2011 and the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl 50.
Von Miller’s Role in the Dallas Cowboys Pass Rush
Last season in Washington, Miller played 420 defensive snaps, 37% of the Commanders’ total and the third-lowest figure of his career. He started three of 17 games and finished with 9.0 sacks, 26 combined tackles, 6 tackles for loss, and 15 quarterback hits. The sack total was his highest since 2021.
Miller has not started more than three games in a season since 2022.
“It’s never a number. I was at Texas A&M my sophomore year, and I was like, man, I looked at the record before, and I was like, man, I can get that. I went over the schedule, and I was like, I can get a sack right here, two sacks right here. Football is just so unpredictable,” Miller explained. “The number one thing for me is to be the best teammate that I could possibly be to help everybody improve, whether it’s offense, defense, special teams, and to win a championship. That’s my number one goal.”
“It’s some things that pass rushers do that take a lot of athletic ability, and it’s some things that’s all mental and intelligence to just knowing where I fit on the pass rush, who I’m working with, time of the game, quarter, what offensive coordinator I’m going against, tendencies from offensive linemen,” Miller added. “Those are things that don’t take any athletic ability. So I can walk into eight of those. Am I going to go out here and just beat somebody to death for 60 plays a game? Probably not. But it’s still in there, and I can still win a lot of these reps, especially when it’s crunch time.”
Dallas enters 2026 with Christian Parker running the defense for the first time. The outside linebacker room already carried Rashan Gary, 2026 first-round pick Malachi Lawrence, and 2025 second-round pick Donovan Ezeiruaku before Miller signed.
Miller’s 2015 postseason ended with 5.0 sacks in three games and two forced fumbles. He added 4.0 sacks in four games during the Los Angeles Rams’ run to Super Bowl LVI in the 2021 season. Across 16 career playoff games he has 10.5 sacks.
He missed the 2020 season with an ankle injury. His career high is 18.5 sacks, set in 2012.
“My contract is for me to be on the team. Anything that I do on the football field, if I go out there and get 15 sacks, I’m underpaid for that,” Miller said. “My love for the game is why I’m here. My love to help guys improve and help the whole organization improve and really just be that drop of oil in the water that changes the whole chemistry. That’s what I take pride in.”
Von Miller Practice and Preseason Timeline
Miller has been practicing in No. 40, which belongs to fullback Hunter Luepke, and the two have not settled the matter for the regular season.
Dallas breaks camp Friday and returns to North Texas. Miller is expected to make his practice debut when the Cowboys resume work at The Star on Tuesday, Aug. 25, though the team has not committed to that date.
The Cowboys play at the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday at 9 p.m. CT and host the New Orleans Saints on Friday, Aug. 28, at 7 p.m. CT at AT&T Stadium. The regular season opens Sept. 13 at the New York Giants at 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
