A seven-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro, Randy Gradishar ranks No. 1 in Broncos history with 2,049 career tackles.
Former Denver Broncos inside linebacker Randy Gradishar is one of three senior finalists for the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, voters announced Wednesday. Gradishar was previously named one of 12 senior semifinalists in July.
Gradishar, 71, played for the Broncos from 1974-1983. A seven-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro, Gradishar ranks No. 1 in franchise history with 2,049 career tackles. He led the team’s famous “Orange Crush” defense to Super Bowl XII in 1977. One year later, Gradishar won the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
Gradishar is long overdue for enshrinement to the Hall of Fame and he is now one step closer.
Gradishar could become the 12th former Bronco to reach the Hall of Fame. He will need to receive 80% approval when voters meet to elect the full 2024 Hall of Fame class in January.
The Hall of Fame’s display for Ware featured a Denver Broncos jersey and helmets from Ware’s high school (Auburn) and college (Troy). The display does not feature a Cowboys jersey or helmet despite the pass rusher spending the majority of his career (nine seasons) in Dallas.
After setting a franchise record with 138.5 sacks in 141 games with the Cowboys, Ware signed with the Broncos in 2014. He went on to play the final three years of his career in Denver, totaling 21.5 sacks in 37 games.
Ware was a key member of the Broncos’ dominant defense that led the team to a 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. Ware’s Super Bowl ring from the 2015 season is a key part of his resume, so having a Denver jersey in the Hall of Fame makes sense.
To not have a Dallas jersey or helmet is perplexing, though, and Cowboys fans were not happy.
From @ToddBrock24f7: The former Cowboy’s football career was nearly derailed before it ever started. He shared his defining moment for the first time in Canton.
The résumé is filled with numbers and accomplishments that have become part of football lore.
The 11th overall draft pick out of tiny Troy University. Nine Pro Bowls. Seven All-Pro nods, four of them as a first-teamer. The Cowboys’ all-time leader in sacks, with 117. An additional 21.5 of them with the Broncos, ranking him ninth all-time. Twice the league leader in the category. A Super Bowl ring while in Denver.
But one moment nearly prevented all of it from ever happening.
DeMarcus Ware delivered a powerful and emotional speech as he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this past weekend. And in between thanking his family members for their years of love and sacrifice and honoring several fallen teammates by pointing out the empty chairs he had left reserved for them, Ware shared the details- for the first time publicly- of one particularly profound moment that altered the course of his life.
“Often, there is something in our lives that pushes us to make a real change,” he began.
Wearing the custom-made gold jacket that signifies him forever as the 371st member of the sport’s most elite fraternity, Ware explained how a weekend at home during college nearly put him on a very different life path.
“I was attending a parking lot party,” Ware continued. “My uncle was in his car and, without warning, was knocked across the head with a gun. And a knife dropped to the ground. And I picked it up. And when I looked up, all I could see was the potential shooter’s eyes and a gun barrel pressed against my head. All I heard was my family say, ‘Don’t kill him.’
“There was an eerie silence, after which I simply said, ‘This isn’t me.’ And I dropped the knife. At that moment, I knew God had given me a second chance, and I had to do something with it. That was my turning point.”
Ware returned to the Trojans and was a nearly unstoppable force on the field. He eventually led the school to its first-ever bowl game appearance, was named the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year as a senior, and was a finalist for the Hendricks Award, given to the top collegiate defensive end in the country.
But even after being selected by the Cowboys in the first round of 2005’s draft, he admitted, that incident was never far from his thoughts.
“You can’t imagine how many years that night echoed in my head,” Ware told the crowd at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. “When I trained, I was motivated by the memories of those parking lot lights. And when I ran onto the field and the crowd cheered, those memories of those screams began to fade. Every sack I made helped to ease the memory of that frightful night and replaced it with positive energy.”
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That positive energy helped Ware fully escape his sometimes troubled past. Over his 12-year NFL career, Ware became almost as well-known for his ever-present beaming smile as for his ferocious pass rush skills.
Ware’s defining moment came in a dark parking lot as a college kid.
But Ware safely turned out of that parking lot, put himself on the road to greatness, and ended up in the Hall of Fame.
Phillips coached the Dallas Cowboys from 2007-10, a time where Ware was playing at the top of his game.
Ware joined the Pro Football Hall of Fame over the weekend, and Wade found the absolute perfect dad joke to wish Ware well on his major career achievement.
Like, this is a grade-A dad joke, and it’s one you’ve got to see for yourself.
Congratulations again to DeMarcus Ware for his HOF achievement! With 138 sacks, a lot of Quarterbacks were under Ware
That’s gold. It’s one of those dad jokes that will make you cringe into a new dimension if you can’t appreciate the beauty of the corniness, but for those of us who can’t help but appreciate a good dad joke, it’s as good as it gets.
We give this dad joke a 10/10, and we hope Phillips has plenty more in him for his Twitter feed. They’ll never … Ware … too thin.
Super Bowl 50 teammates Peyton Manning and Von Miller reacted to DeMarcus Ware’s Hall of Fame nod on Saturday night.
DeMarcus Ware was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday as he joined fellow Denver Broncos greats including John Elway, Terrell Davis and Peyton Manning.
Ware played nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, but he became a Broncos legend due to his three seasons in the Mile High City. In three seasons, Ware appeared in two Pro Bowls, racked up 21.5 sacks, and helped anchor a star-studded defense in the 2015 season as Denver won the Super Bowl for that season.
To commemorate the occasion, Manning and fellow Super Bowl champion teammate Von Miller spoke on Ware getting the prestigious honor.
“His impact was immediate,” Manning told the team’s official website. “It was a real honor and privilege to play with him and especially now to call him a friend.”
“His impact was immediate. … It was a real honor & privilege to play with him and especially now to call him a friend.”
DeMarcus Ware honored late teammates Demaryius Thomas, Ronnie Hillman and Marion Barber during his Hall of Fame speech.
Denver Broncos Super Bowl 50 champion DeMarcus Ware was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio on Saturday evening.
If you missed the ceremony, you can watch Ware’s complete, 17-minute Hall of Fame speech in the above video.
During his speech, Ware honored late teammates Demaryius Thomas, Ronnie Hillman and Marion Barber. Thomas, who won Super Bowl 50 with Ware, died of a seizure at age 33 in 2021. Hillman, another member of that championship team, died of renal medullary carcinoma at age 31 last December. Barber, who played with Ware with the Dallas Cowboys, died of heat stroke at age 38 last year.
“I held some seats for you guys here today,” Ware said. “Keep resting in peace fellas.”
Peyton Manning and Von Miller were in attendance to watch Ware’s enshrinement ceremony, joined by Super Bowl 50 teammates including Brandon McManus and Brock Osweiler. Denver’s former defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips, was also in attendance.
DeMarcus Ware singled out his friend and retired New York Giants DE Osi Umenyiora during his Hall of Fame speech on Saturday afternoon.
Retired Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware was honored during a pre-induction Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony in Canton, Ohio on Saturday afternoon. When his time came, Ware took the stage and gave an impassioned speech.
Ware gave thanks to his family, his friends and many of his former teammates, including those who have passed. He also called back to his roots — Auburn High School and Troy University.
One of the former high school and college teammates Ware singled out was retired New York Giants edge rusher Osi Umenyiora, who played alongside Ware for four seasons prior to entering the NFL. The two became extremely close friends and remain so today.
“I want to thank Osi Umenyiora,” Ware said. “And all my high school teammates for using your voices to help me get my scholarship to Troy University. The only college scholarship I got.”
Both Ware and Umenyiora were limited to scholarship from Troy, but they each made the most of the opportunity. They combined for 52.5 sacks during their two years together at the program and then it was on to the NFL.
“We’ll laugh [about] how we can’t believe we are here,” Umenyiora said in 2008, via ESPN. “If you see where we came from and the paths we took to get here, for us to both be known as some of the most feared pass-rushers in the league right now, coming from that is stupid when you think about it.”
For Ware, his football journey ended in Canton. For Umenyiora, his continues in Africa with the mission to grow the game of football across the globe and provide opportunities for those around the world who otherwise wouldn’t have it.
“He was an immediate impact player with great makeup and everything that you look for,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of DeMarcus Ware.
DeMarcus Ware will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the 2023 class in Canton, Ohio on Saturday evening.
Ware played the final three years of his career with the Denver Broncos, helping the team win Super Bowl 50 following the 2015 season.
“I have a handful of memories — some of them good, some of them not so good,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said when asked about his memories of Ware after a training camp practice on July 26. “He was an immediate impact player with great makeup and everything that you look for. [He was] well-coached, well-raised, disciplined, smart and very athletic.”
Ware started his NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys in 2005 while Payton was serving as the Cowboys’ assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach. The following year, Payton became the head coach of the New Orleans Saints.
“Shortly thereafter, I went to New Orleans, and we played him a number of times. The game that stands out is in our 2009 season. I think we were 13-0 and we were playing them on a Saturday night. He had been out all week and was on the injury report. It didn’t look positive, especially when it was a neck and back. In our Wednesday third-down meeting — normally we’d be spending a lot of time on how we’re going to handle [him]. We’d nudge him or chip him, but we made the mistake of kind of overlooking that.
“Then here comes on game day, and he’s running through the tunnel. I’m like ‘You have to be kidding me.’ He had a sack and a fumble. Now that would serve us well later because six games later in the Super Bowl, we went through the same thing with Dwight Freeney, who had an injured ankle. We met until two in the morning as if Dwight was healthy and full speed. You learn some lessons the hard way. I know how much Bill [Parcells] thought of him, as did anybody who had a chance to play with him or coach him either here in Denver or in Dallas. I think you saw right away all those traits that you’re looking for, and it’s much deserved.”
Ware played against the Saints six times in his career. In those contests, Ware totaled nine quarterback hits, five sacks, three forced fumbles and one pass breakup. He was a disruptive playmaker as a pass rusher.
Ware retired following the 2016 season and he ranks ninth on the NFL’s all-time sack list with 138.5. His addition to the Hall of Fame is certainly well-deserved. Ware becomes the 11th former Broncos to reach the Hall.
As DeMarcus Ware gets enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame we debate if he’ll be remembered most for the Cowboys or Broncos. | From @ReidDHanson
DeMarcus Ware will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame at noon eastern on Saturday. Him getting a gold jacket seemed like a forgone conclusion even 10 years ago. All Ware accomplished in his 12-year career was earn four All-Pro awards, nine Pro Bowl bids, one Super Bowl trophy, and a spot on the All-2000s Team.
It’s a brilliant career that landed Ware No. 9 on the NFL’s all-time sack leader list (138.5 career sacks) which spanned nine seasons with the Cowboys before concluding in Denver for three additional seasons.
While Dallas gets credit for drafting and developing Ware, it’s the Broncos who got the honor of giving the 2023 Hall of Famer his only Super Bowl trophy. His time in Denver was a rousing success and the love between Ware and the Broncos clearly flows both ways.
His love for both cities likely prompted Ware to go into the Hall of Fame as a shared commodity. Both NFL franchises get to claim him because he proudly claims both of them.
But when the dust settles and fans look back a decade from now – two decades from now – will Ware be remembered more as a Bronco or as a Cowboy?
DeMarcus Ware had some great things to say about what he saw from the Cowboys at training camp
“It was a totally different team.”
Those were the comments of newly elected Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware who was at Cowboys camp three weeks ago.
When asked by USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa about this year’s Cowboys team with Mike McCarthy now calling plays, Ware was effusive with his praise.
“It was what I wanted to see,” said the ex-Cowboys outside linebacker who amassed 138.5 sacks during an 11-year career which included a Super Bowl 50 win with Denver. “They were doing some really cool stuff with Dak.”
Ware, who left Dallas as the franchise’s all-time sacks leader with 117, could barely contain his excitement for the coming season.
“Sometimes when I leave from over there – it’s a lot of great players, but they’re not all together,” said Ware. “But for the first time they are playing together, they are playing with a lot of enthusiasm. And I’m like man, is this our year?”
In the interview, Ware, who admits to being an “extreme fan,” also praises the leadership of Dan Quinn, Demarcus Lawrence, Micah Parsons, Dak Prescott.
Check out the entire Sports Seriously conversation in the link above.
