Von Miller inked a one-year deal with Dallas on Tuesday that tops out at $7.5 million, a number so far below his market rate two years ago that it reads less like a contract and more like a confession: he wants a Super Bowl before he wants another paycheck. Dallas has not been to a conference championship since 1995, a drought so long it predates the salary cap era's third generation of quarterbacks, and Miller is walking in as the pass rusher the Cowboys have been auditioning for since DeMarcus Ware left. Troy Aikman, who has watched this franchise promise contention every August since he last won one, used his platform this week to say the roster still has not proven anything. Jerry Jones just handed Aikman fresh evidence either way.

The business read sits underneath the sentiment. Miller's deal is a bet by Dallas that a 37-year-old edge rusher on a discount still moves the needle more than the money saved, and Jones is the one owner in the league who can make that math work because he controls the roster, the cap sheet and the marketing plan under one signature. Miller has already declared himself the "best teammate ever," which is either self-aware theater or a preview of the locker room he is about to run. Dallas opens the season on September 4. Jones will find out fast which version of Miller he bought.