There is no reason for making Jimmy Johnson wait longer for the Ring of Honor

If you gathered any group of Dallas Cowboys fans together and challenged them to all agree on one single thing, there is a consensus that you could get them all to reach - Jimmy Johnson belongs in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor.

Obviously we have a lot of Cowboys fans who interact here at BTB and throughout our other channels and spaces (podcast, YouTube, social, etc.) and, speaking for myself, I have never seen a single person who agrees with Johnson’s constant exclusion from the team’s hallowed fraternity.

His absence served as the main subject for this week’s episode of The 75O on the Blogging The Boys podcast network between myself and 2-time Super Bowl champion Tony Casillas. You can hear Casillas every week on our network as well as a ton of other wonderful shows, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss any of them. Apple devices can subscribe here and Spotify users can subscribe here.

This subject has come up as of late around Cowboys Nation, most recently when Jerry Jones spoke after the City of Dallas was selected as one of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup. But one argument surfaced even more recently that Johnson should have to wait.

Let’s look at the timeline of events over the last year.

August 2021: Jerry says Jimmy will be in the Ring of Honor

It took longer than it should have for Jimmy Johnson to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and it even took longer than that as Johnson was selected as a member of the Class of 2020 but the enshrinement was postponed due to the onset of the pandemic. At long last he received his due last summer in Canton, OH.

Due to the amount of Cowboys involved in the massive class (Jimmy Johnson, Drew Pearson, and Cliff Harris), the team was selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. In the lead-up to the contest the FOX pregame show had both Jones and Johnson on set, along with then-FOX analyst Troy Aikman, celebrating Johnson’s enshrinement weekend.

Host Curt Menefee set Jerry up by asking if there was an announcement of sorts happening and then Jerry took the opportunity to say that Johnson would be enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor.

Cowboys fans everywhere celebrated this news and some even gave Jerry props for doing something that he should have done long ago. The thing is that Jerry didn’t do anything. Johnson even joked right after Jerry said it by saying “while I’m alive?!” to which everybody laughed.

Here we sit, just about one year later, with no announcement of any kind that the Cowboys will induct Pro Football Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson into their Ring of Honor. They are literally excluding someone who the most prestigious fraternity that the game has to offer has deemed one of the greatest coaches of all time.

June 2022: Jerry is asked about Jimmy during the World Cup announcement

As noted, Jerry Jones was part of the Dallas group that celebrated the city being selected as one of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup. The selection served as an opportunity for Jerry to meet with the media to discuss a variety of things.

Throughout his speaking session Jerry was asked by ESPN’s Todd Archer about the Ring of Honor. Jerry said there was absolutely nothing to discuss there, no news of any kind. You can see the clip here right after the August 2021 clip.

Jerry was specifically pressed about Johnson after saying there was no Ring of Honor news to discuss and said he understood why that would be a question but he reiterated that there was no update. He said that it has never been something that he has decided on (given his unilateral control over the Ring) until right before he does it.

Again, this fully highlighted some of the unnecessary drama that has embroiled the Cowboys for almost 30 years now. Jerry promised Johnson’s eventual place in the Ring and then 12 months later basically ignored the question.

July 2022: An argument appears against Jimmy being enshrined immediately

This week The Dallas Morning News shed some much-needed attention on older Dallas Cowboys that also deserve a place in the team’s Ring of Honor: Cornell Green, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Harvey Martin, Everson Walls, and Charlie Waters. You should read their argument for each player for full context and support the DMN with a subscription if you are able to.

Those five players belong in the Ring of Honor. It is a very good thing that discussion is happening around them. Hopefully it pushes towards Jerry and the team giving them their long-overdue place.

But one line within this article stuck out a bit. In talking about how the team hasn’t had an enshrinement since 2018, the DMN noted that there is a growing list of players that will deserve their spots in the future. Here is the specific line.

The owner of the Cowboys has publicly declared that he will one day induct Jimmy Johnson in the club’s Ring of Honor. There’s no doubt Jason Witten, DeMarcus Ware and Tony Romo will be added.

Before Jones makes those moves, he should address some omissions that took place before his watch.

Again, Jason Witten, DeMarcus Ware, and Tony Romo all deserve their eventual places in the Ring of Honor. But why should Jimmy Johnson have to wait alongside them?

Witten, Ware, and Romo all literally just barely retired. In fact, in the time since the last one of them played for the team, Bruce Arians led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win and their team announced that he would be entering their own Ring of Honor already just to put things in perspective.

Can you name anyone who you know or interact with throughout your Cowboys fandom that can justify making Jimmy Johnson wait any longer?

Getting back to the DMN’s argument, the article starts by noting how now-HOFer Cliff Harris has advocated for Charlie Waters’ induction into the ROH. Here is the specific line. It is literally the first one of the write-up:

A bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame sets a player apart.

This line is used to properly highlight Captain Crash’s credentials and how his vote for Waters should carry more water (no pun intended) the way that Roger Staubach’s advocacy for Drew Pearson did. Besides the fact that Johnson has plenty of HOF/ROH players advocating for him in The Triplets... he also has a bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Why does that not set him apart?

If Harris’ bust serves as this trump card in conversations, then it should mean that Jimmy Johnson can use his to pass go, collect his $200, and receive his rightful place among the team’s greatest players, coaches, and executives.

Also this idea that anyone has to wait because of some sort of chronological order or whatever seems irrelevant as well. While the last couple of ROH inductions were single people (Gil Brandt in 2018, Darren Woodson in 2015) the Cowboys inducted a group back in 2011 featuring players from multiple eras: Drew Pearson, Charles Haley, and Larry Allen.

If those three can co-exist in one single induction then why can’t Johnson be included in addition to a class featuring people from past eras? Jerry has made it abundantly clear that there are no rules or stipulations with regards to the process so why is there now some sort of impediment that would seemingly prohibit Johnson from going in?

The DMN included a poll in their article asking which “player” most deserved to join the Ring of Honor next. Again, make sure to read their article yourself and support their publication, but we will offer the same options here in a poll and make sure to include Jimmy Johnson since theirs did not so that we can see if his involvement would make him the runaway winner.