DeMarcus Ware teases comeback after seeing Jason Witten return to Cowboys

Jason Witten’s surprising decision to leave the broadcast booth to rejoin the Cowboys after a brief retirement from football has seemingly inspired at least one of his former teammates to consider launching a comeback of his own. 

On Wednesday, after Witten surprisingly signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys, former Cowboys and Broncos pass rusher DeMarcus Ware teased a return to football. How serious Ware is remains to be seen.

In a video uploaded to Twitter, Ware mentioned that Witten’s return to football “inspired” him and that he’s heard from Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and Broncos linebacker Von Miller about them wanting another pass rusher on the edge. 

“Hey, I want to let everyone know that I’ve been inspired when I heard Jason Witten might be coming out of retirement,” Ware said. “And I started thinking to myself, maybe I need to call Romo and get him out of the booth, and all three of us come back. But then Von Miller started hitting me up, and then also DeMarcus Lawrence, saying that they wanted another guy on the edge, will I come back? 

“I have been working out. And I do feel good. Do y’all think I should come back? Y’all let me know. Don’t play with me. Y’all let me know.”

There’s a decent chance Ware is kidding. He wore a wide smile on his face at the end of the video. He’ll turn 37 before the upcoming season. He collected only 11.5 sacks over his final two NFL seasons before he retired in 2017. He’s sat out the last two seasons.

But if Ware did decide to embark upon a comeback, the Cowboys would be a natural landing spot for the pass rusher considering he spent nine seasons in Dallas before finishing out his career with the Broncos. 

In September 2017, Ware said he still has “the drive to get out there and the want to play,” and that “if Jerry calls me, I’ll answer the phone.” And here’s where we note that the Cowboys did just lose defensive end Randy Gregory to yet another suspension, leaving them thin on the edge — even if they manage to hold onto impending free agent DeMarcus Lawrence, who Ware says contacted him about coming back. Ware and his 138.5 career sacks could, theoretically, fill the spot vacated by Gregory.

Ware could also, in theory, rejoin a Broncos team that already has Von Miller (who Ware says also reached out to him) and Bradley Chubb penciled in as the starters by helping out in a more limited role that is probably better suited for him given his age. Ware already worked for the Broncos as a pass rush consultant. He could — again, in theory — continue to coach up the two younger pass rushers while seeing the field as a relief pass rusher.

Or Ware could simply be joking, similar to how former NFL tight end Martellus Bennett joked about rejoining the Patriots or Cowboys after seeing the Witten news. Bennett later tweeted that he was trolling. Former Cowboys safety Darren Woodson, who works for ESPN as an analyst, also joked about returning after seeing Witten’s contract. Woodson didn’t say he was joking like Bennett did, but Woodson is also 49 years old.