DeMarcus Ware won a Super Bowl as a Denver Bronco after establishing a sacks record with the Dallas Cowboys.
There’s little doubt that the outside linebacker’s Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony will be a mix of Denver and Dallas.
“He accomplished what he accomplished as a Cowboy,” said former teammate Marcus Spears, Ware’s other first-round choice with the Cowboys in 2005.
“But to go to Denver and make such a huge impact in such a short period of time, and Denver fans and people in that area remember him as a Bronco,” Spears added. “It just tells you about him.”
Ware, the 11th overall selection out of Troy before Spears went 20th, was a salary budget casualty with the Cowboys in 2013 after amassing 117 sacks in nine seasons, three more than Hall of Famer Randy White’s previous club record.
With concerns about his age (32 at the time) and injuries, Ware joined Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. Two years later, Ware sacked Cam Newton twice in Denver’s 24-10 triumph in Super Bowl 50, when Manning’s offence primarily merely sought to keep out of the way of a dominating defence.
“I felt terrific. “I still believe I have something left in the tank,” said Ware, who ranks 13th all-time in sacks with 13812. “You get released, and you’re like, ‘OK, what’s the next chapter?’” And then I saw Von Miller.”
Miller, the second overall choice two years before, was already an accomplished edge rusher when Ware joined him. Miller dealt with injuries their first year together, and Ware dealt with them the following year before recovering in time for the playoffs.
“I saw a young me,” Ware, 41, said of Miller. “I started seeing things I used to do in him, and I started doing them again.”
Miller, who had 212 sacks and two forced fumbles in that Super Bowl triumph, still receives aid from Ware in the summer with his pass rushing workshops. He expects to attend the induction ceremony in Canton on Saturday.
“I’ve been there for Champ Bailey. “I was there for Peyton Manning,” said Miller, who was a 16-year-old high school player in the Dallas area the year Ware was picked. “I think this one hit me a little harder because my brother was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.”
When choosing his next step after the Cowboys, Ware recalls Manning telling him that they could win it all together, and that he wanted Ware to be the captain of the defence in the same manner that Manning was the captain of the offence.
“You get released, sometimes you go to a team, and you’re like, ‘Where am I going to fit?’” said Ware, who retired after the 2016 season after winning the last two of his nine Pro Bowl appearances in three years with the Broncos. “They told me where I was going to fit before I even arrived.”
One of Ware’s hallmark moments occurred in Dallas, not long before his first playoff win in 2009. Six days after suffering a neck injury that left him briefly numb in his limbs, Ware played in New Orleans and had a game-winning strip sack in a 13-0 victory against the Saints.
Sean Payton, then-coach of the New Orleans Saints, recalls putting together the game plan and making the error of presuming Ware would not participate.
“Then comes game day, and he’s running through the tunnel,” said Payton, who is in his first season as Broncos coach. “I’m thinking, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’”
Payton, who was on Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells’ Dallas staff when Ware was picked, learned his lesson. The Saints finished that season with a Super Bowl victory against the Indianapolis Colts, presuming along the way that injured Colts pass rusher Dwight Freeney would participate, which he did.
“I know how much Bill thought of him, as did anyone who had the opportunity to play with him or coach him either here in Denver or in Dallas,” Payton said. “I believe you noticed all of the characteristics that you’re looking for right away.”
Following a wild-card victory against Philadelphia, the Cowboys were blasted out in Minnesota by Brett Favre and the Vikings the year New Orleans won the Super Bowl.
Despite four All-Pro honours and a 20-sack season in 2008, Dallas could not reach the playoffs again before Ware was released, leaving him just one win in three visits to the postseason.
Longtime Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, who may soon join Ware in the Hall of Fame, and quarterback Tony Romo were never able to win a championship. Neither did Britney Spears.
Ware likes to remark that he feels his career was characterised by playing for others as much as he did for himself. When he turned up for his one and only Super Bowl, it had another significance.
“Every day, they would let me know,” recalled Ware, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his second year of eligibility. “They were saying before the game, ‘Dude, man, I feel like this is my opportunity to soak in a Super Bowl.’”
Ware has no qualms with the finish in Dallas since owner/general manager Jerry Jones is his presenter in Canton. Ware claims this is because Jones informed him of his release.
Jones delivered an emotional statement upon his dismissal, as he did later with two other players, receiver Dez Bryant and running back Ezekiel Elliott.
“I just had to ask, ‘How did I get here to not have DeMarcus Ware and give us a chance to win it?’” Jones explained. “And it was what you had to do to manage the salary cap.” So you can’t have it all.”
That is why Denver is invited to the Hall of Fame ceremony.
“You have to show them love when you play for teams that have done so much for you on both ends,” Ware said. “And that’s what I’m doing.”
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