Jerry Jones Makes Big Announcement About Jimmy Johnson Ahead of Hall of Fame Induction

Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones is doing something very special for his former head coach Jimmy Johnson. Before the Hall of Fame game on Thursday night, Jones announced that Johnson will be inducted into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor. He made the announcement days before Johnson will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“I think we’ve got some great days ahead of us,” Jones, said per ESPN. “We are going to certainly be recognizing what’s happening here with the Hall of Fame, but Tex Schramm, who started that Ring of Honor, he said, ‘Jerry, keep it kind of limited with people, but make sure it wasn’t just about the plays they made. Make sure they contributed to the story of the franchise.’ Now, it’s kind of hard not to recognize [Johnson’s] contribution to the story of the franchise.”

Johnson was next to Jones when he made the announcement, leading to Johnson asking he will be inducted into the Ring of Honor “While I’m alive?” It’s not clear when Johnson will be in the Ring of Honor, but it would make sense to do it sometime this season so Cowboys fans can celebrate his Hall of Fame induction also. The big reason Johnson isn’t in the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor now is he had a falling out with Jones, which is something the Cowboys owner talked about at the start of training camp.

“Ridiculous. My role here was, my job was to keep it together,” Jones said while getting emotional. “It was my job. Should have had deference to something that was working good. Those are the things that come to my mind. We had a great run of it. He’s a great coach, and I’m proud to have him as a friend and proud to have had the times that we had. We just had a great experience.”

Johnson has a very successful stint with the Cowboys despite only being with the team for five years. After winning only eight games in his first two seasons, Johnson led the Cowboys to three consecutive playoff appearances and two consecutive Super Bowl wins. After leaving the Cowboys once the 1993 season ended, Johnson returned to coaching in 1996 as a head man for the Miami Dolphins. He was there for four seasons and posted a 36-28 record with three playoff appearances.