[UPDATE] Cowboys free agency rumors: Von Miller to Bills, not the Rams (or Cowboys)

[UPDATE]: The Cowboys were never going to be in at these numbers for this length of a contract for Von Miller. He ends up on the Buffalo Bills.

There was reportedly a bit of a last-second ditch to salvage something in the Randy Gregory deal, but he is headed to the Denver Broncos. It was a memorable negotiation of sorts, but it is over.

The Dallas Cowboys need to figure out another option at edge rusher and for the last 24 or so hours it has seemed like Von Miller could be that answer, especially considering that it was reported that Miller had interest in joining America’s Team.

It takes two to tango and in addition to that it takes music for the tandem to step to. The Cowboys obviously have interest in Miller, but as is the case, at the right price. We don’t know what that price ultimately is going to be, but given that the Cowboys were literally willing to give Randy Gregory $14M per year it stands to reason that they would be willing to do that or some degree of it for a player of Miller’s caliber.

The Rams are “working to bring back” Von Miller and are “convinced” they will

For all we know the Cowboys have been on the phone with Von Miller for a day straight and may wind up striking out. That is just the way that free agency goes sometimes. Whatever the case, reports are starting to fly that Miller could wind up returning to the Los Angeles Rams, the team he was traded to last season where he won the Super Bowl. In fact the Rams are reportedly “convinced” that that is what is going to happen.

Free agency is fully underway (tampering, official, whatever) and Miller disappearing from the open market would leave the Cowboys with relatively little options as far as edge rushers are concerned. Just before this Miller report came out, Chandler Jones agreed to terms with the Las Vegas Raiders which took him off of the board. Removing Miller from contention and the next-best options are guys like Jadeveon Clowney and Za’Darius Smith.

Feel how you want to about the way that the Randy Gregory situation unfolded for the Cowboys, but at the end of the day he did not sign with them which leaves them with a need that they have to fill. How they manage to do that remains to be seen, but the options are running out. Although Miller could still technically be one of those options as it was also reported that he hasn’t made a definitive decision yet.

Of course, the Cowboys could always decide to commit Micah Parsons full time to rushing the passer (or commit to having him do it a lot) and if they do go that route then perhaps they could bring in some help at linebacker instead. Bobby Wagner still hovers on the open market, but again “the right price” will be important verbiage.

Update: 5:10pm ET

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said that it wouldn’t be surprising to see Von Miller’s number surpass that of Chandler Jones.

For what it’s worth Jones got $17M per year from the Las Vegas Raiders. It is unlikely that the Cowboys would match that.