Jerry Jones announces that Jimmy Johnson will be inducted into Cowboys’ Ring of Honor: ‘It was time’

It’s finally happening. Jimmy Johnson, a Hall of Fame coach who guided the Dallas Cowboys to back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1990s, is entering the team’s Ring of Honor, team owner Jerry Jones confirmed Sunday during an appearance on Fox’s pregame show. 

“First of all, I thought it was time,” Jones said, via The Athletic, at his impromptu press conference that took place while the Cowboys’ Week 11 game at the Carolina Panthers began. “I wanted to do it this year. As you know, we don’t have a set time frame of when to do the Ring of Honor thing. Frankly, it just felt right. Certainly there was some awkwardness that was happening for not doing it. I guess I anticipated it, but I didn’t anticipate it. I wouldn’t have want it to linger any longer at all. We have a deal in the Hall of Fame that even though someone tries to get in maybe 15 times, but when you’re in, you’re in. You’ve [Johnson] always been in. It was just a question of when.”

Johnson, member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020, will formerly be inducted into the Ring of Honor when the Cowboys host the Detroit Lions on Dec. 30. 

“I think one reason for this year is I’m alive,” Johnson, 80-years-old, said laughing. “He’s [Jones] always told me I was going in.”

The first coach to win a college national title and a Super Bowl, Johnson is the person most responsible for the Cowboys’ 1990s dynasty. He oversaw the fastest turnaround in NFL history, as the Cowboys went from being a 1-15 outfit in 1989 to Super Bowl champions just three years later. Johnson’s Cowboys repeated as champions before shockingly stepping away just months later. Dallas won its third and most recent Super Bowl two years later with a roster that was mostly comprised of Johnson’s players, but Barry Switzer was the head coach. 

An extremely innovative coach, Johnson used trades (51 in all) and an ahead of its time draft value chart to engineer the quickest turnaround in NFL history. He famously traded Herschel Walker to the Vikings for a bounty of picks that helped build the Cowboys’ Super Bowl rosters. 

Johnson, who later coached the Miami Dolphins, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021. During his induction weekend, Jones publicly proclaimed that Johnson would eventually enter the Ring of Honor. Two years later, Jones’ words are coming to fruition.