Jerry Jones noted Tyron Smith will one day join the team’s Ring of Honor.
The great Tyron Smith retired from the NFL on Wednesday and with him goes another storied piece of Dallas Cowboys franchise history.
Obviously the Cowboys failed to achieve the game’s ultimate prize with Smith on the team, and fellow recent retiree Zack Martin as well, which is something that we all simply have to live with. While that is the case we can acknowledge that players like Smith and Martin were incredible and will rightly receiver their due someday when they enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
It stands to reason that both Smith and Martin will have their names line the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor at some point as well. There are only a handful of players who are in it that were a part of the Jerry Jones era of the team that did not feature Jimmy Johnson’s involvement.
When exactly will the duo join the greatest players in franchise history inside of AT&T Stadium, though? Jerry Jones was asked about this at Tyron Smith’s retirement press conference and noted that both players will be in the ROH, but he declined to offer any sort of timeline.
Perhaps the best comparison for this situation is DeMarcus Ware. Consider the timeline:
- 2014: Cowboys move on from Ware
- 2015: Ware wins Super Bowl 50 with the Denver Broncos
- 2017: DeMarcus officially retires from the NFL
- Summer of 2023: DeMarcus Ware enshrined in Pro Football Hall of Fame
- October of 2023: DeMarcus Ware inducted into Cowboys Ring of Honor
It took almost a decade from the time that the Cowboys moved on from Ware for him to find himself in the ROH, but he is different from Smith in that he played more than one season after his departure from the team. For what it’s worth, he did join the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a more prestigious honor than the Ring of Honor if we are being fair, before getting the nod from the Cowboys.
Is this the path that Smith (and Martin for that matter) will ultimately have to take? Time will tell. But it is certainly obvious that it will happen at some point.