DALLAS — Von Miller said Dallas Cowboys fullback Hunter Luepke countered his offer of a lifetime supply of chicken by asking for 2% equity in Miller’s poultry company, and that the two worked out an arrangement for the No. 40 jersey that Miller declined to disclose.
Miller made the comments on the Season 2 premiere of Free Range with Von Miller, the podcast he hosts with Audacy and posts to his YouTube channel. TJ Banks co-hosts the show.
Miller agreed to a one-year contract with Dallas on Aug. 16. The deal pays $5.5 million and can reach $7.5 million through incentives. Adam Schefter of ESPN first reported the agreement, and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported the terms.
Miller wore No. 40 at DeSoto High School and at Texas A&M. He kept it with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 and with the Buffalo Bills from 2022 through 2024. He wore No. 58 across nine seasons with the Denver Broncos and No. 24 with the Washington Commanders last season.
Luepke has worn No. 40 since Dallas signed him as an undrafted free agent out of North Dakota State in 2023. He wore No. 44 in college. Both players were listed at 40 on the Cowboys’ official roster page as of Tuesday afternoon.
Von Miller And Hunter Luepke Negotiated Over Instagram
Miller opened on Instagram with a lifetime supply of chicken.”Was able to get number 40 from Hunter Luepke, which we had to kind of do some negotiating at first,” Miller said. “He’s been 40 for a long time. It ain’t something that I just can come in and boss hog. When I talked to him about it, I hit him on Instagram, and he was like, we can figure something out. And I came up with the idea, I give him chicken for life.”
“Of course, being a great negotiator he is, he was like, how about equity in Greener Pastures Chicken,” Miller continued. “I was like, it’s something that we could probably work out. He wanted 2% equity, which would be up in the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars. But a piece of that, I was able to work it out. Don’t want to disclose what I was able to do, but we were able to work it out. And I’m like 90% sure that I’d be number 40.”
Miller is a co-founder of Greener Pastures Chicken, a 35-acre regenerative organic poultry farm in Elgin, Texas. He majored in poultry science at Texas A&M.
Miller said the two covered a lot of ground beyond the number.
“We talked about so many different things,” Miller explained. “He has tattoos. We talked about doing like the anesthesia thing where he’d get tattooed, get his whole body tatted, which would cost around like $40,000 to $50,000. I was going to do that for him. That sounded like a great gift to me. I’m going to pay for all the tattoos on his body.”
“But he went with the more business savvy choice of it, which would be to get equity in Greener Pastures Chicken,” Miller added. “A small piece, but he’s a part of the team. And I think him being a partner of Greener Pastures Chicken, playing for the Dallas Cowboys, wearing the hat, I think it was valuable on my end and valuable on his end as well.”
Hunter Luepke’s Extension And Role In Dallas
Luepke signed a two-year extension on Sept. 3, 2025, the day before the season opener. The deal is worth up to $7.5 million, includes more than $5 million guaranteed, and runs through the 2027 season. It made him the third-highest-paid fullback in the league by average annual salary.
Luepke played 17 games with 5 starts last season. He carried 16 times for 71 yards and no touchdowns, and caught 13 passes for 109 yards and 1 touchdown. Across three seasons in Dallas, he has 34 carries for 128 yards and 1 touchdown, and 28 receptions for 238 yards and 1 touchdown in 50 games.
Von Miller Ruled Out No. 94 In Dallas
Miller ruled out No. 94 at his introductory press conference on Aug. 18. DeMarcus Ware wore that number in Dallas from 2005 through 2013 and left as the franchise’s all-time sacks leader with 117. Ware and Miller were teammates in Denver, where they won Super Bowl 50 together, and Ware was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023.
Miller has 138.5 sacks in 203 regular season games, the most of any active player. That total ties Ware for ninth on the NFL’s official list, which dates to 1982. He had 9.0 sacks in 17 games for Washington last season on 420 defensive snaps, 37% of the team’s total.
The Cowboys open the regular season Sept. 13 at the New York Giants. Kickoff at MetLife Stadium is set for 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
