Von Miller's road to the NFL started with a family disagreement. Before becoming a two-time Super Bowl champion, seven-time All-Pro, and Super Bowl MVP, Miller had to find a way onto the football field despite his father's concerns.

His father did not want him playing football when he was in fifth grade, partly because Miller was too skinny and partly because of the physical nature of the game, according to Fox Sports.

“Football is such a violent sport, and he wanted us to develop, and he wanted us to wait till later on in life to play, like, you know, junior high school or freshman year,” Von Miller said on August 25.

However, his mother saw how much Miller wanted to play and found a way to get him onto the team. The secret eventually came out when Miller's team reached the championship game with only 11 players and still won by a touchdown.

“My dad didn’t want us playing football. Um, and my mom did. Everybody in school was playing football, and I wanted to play football with them. After school, went home, my dad said no. Said we were too young,” Miller said on Champion Mindset with Daniel Cormier on August 25.

More than two decades later, Miller is preparing for another NFL chapter with the Dallas Cowboys. The 37-year-old signed a one-year deal worth up to $7.5 million after recording nine sacks for Washington last season.

“My mom was like, ‘Man, they want to play, they keep talking about it.’ And she, you know, she snuck us on the football team," Miller added.

The kid whose father once wanted him to wait before playing football has now built a Hall of Fame-level career in the sport he was once told was too violent to play.

What started with Miller quietly joining a youth football team has since turned into a 16-year NFL career, with Dallas now the latest stop.

Von Miller's Cowboys move had a hidden clue

Von Miller's move to the Dallas Cowboys was already being discussed before the news became public, and DeMarcus Ware was among the first people to know.

Miller agreed to a one-year deal with Dallas on August 16 and signed later that week in Oxnard.

“Just to see how cool it is now with Von coming here. I’m really, really excited about it,” Ware said, according to Dallas Sports Journal. “And that smile was when he was like, ‘Hey, bro, the Dallas Cowboys are talking to me.’ I said, ‘What?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’”

The move brings Miller back to Texas. The DeSoto native was drafted No. 2 overall by the Denver Broncos in 2011 after playing at Texas A&M.Miller later texted Ware while he was still in Dallas.

“And so then he texted me. He was like, ‘What’s up?’ And this was before anybody said anything,” Ware added.

Miller enters Dallas with 138.5 career sacks in 203 regular-season games, the most among active NFL players. His total also ties Ware for ninth on the NFL's official sack list dating back to 1982.

Written by

Debanjali Rakshit

Edited by

Debanjali Rakshit