IRVING – Either this year or next, linebacker DeMarcus Ware figures to cash in on what should be the most lucrative contract Jerry Jones has ever given out in terms of guaranteed money as the Dallas Cowboys' owner and general manager.
After three years, Ware has been named to the Pro Bowl twice and was an alternate as a rookie. His sack totals have increased each year from eight in 2005 to 11½ in 2006 and 14 last season, which brought him consideration for the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones acknowledged recently part of the team's lack of work in the current free-agent market was due to the fact they have to re-sign cornerback Terence Newman, who is in the final year of his contract, and Ware, whose deal runs out in 2009. Considering Indianapolis gave its pass-rushing fiend, Dwight Freeney, a six-year, $72 million deal with a $30 million signing bonus last summer, the Cowboys are probably looking at similar numbers for Ware. Probably more. Freeney, 28, has done it longer, but Ware only turns 26 in July. The thought of more zeroes in a bank account already larger than he ever imagined growing up in Auburn, Ala., do not cross Ware's mind. "Just working out, doing what I need to do because I know each year is a year I need to excel," Ware said. "I'm going to do my best to show them I'm that guy. This year I'm going to make sure I'm bigger, stronger, faster and even more productive than last year. They say 14 sacks was productive. I look at it if I get 15, then you never know that 15th sack could get you to the Super Bowl. So that's the way I look at it. I'll let them handle that contract stuff." When the Cowboys drafted Ware out of Troy in the first round in 2005, then-coach Bill Parcells compared him to Lawrence Taylor and Willie McGinest, two of the best pass rushers Parcells ever had with the Giants and Patriots. The Joneses saw another Charles Haley. The lofty expectations haven't hampered Ware. Last season he became the first Cowboy to post back-to-back double-digit sack seasons since Haley in 1994 and '95. The 14 sacks in 2007 were the most in the NFL by a linebacker. Ware had 27 quarterback pressures and 80 tackles. He accomplished all of that by playing 1,007 snaps, second most on the defense. Because of Ware's build (6-4, 255), Parcells did not want to wear him out by going against bigger tackles all the time, but the switch to Wade Phillips' scheme was not as taxing on him. "You got one system with Bill Parcells to where you're head up on a guy a lot. You're tussling a lot, going against big guys mano a mano," Ware said. "With Wade's system, it's a little different. I'm more of an outside guy. I use half my body half the time. ... It's really a good thing. I jut think that you can play every snap with this scheme, but Parcells' scheme is a little harder because you're tussling around a little more and it wears your body down." The Cowboys' off-season program does not begin until March 31, but Ware has been a regular at the team's facility, working out two or three times a week. "Not like hard, more like stretching and keeping your body in an even keel because once the off-season workouts start, they're going to kill you," Ware said. "You want to go in a little bit in shape." Ware wants to get up to 265 pounds in the off-season – he was listed at 252 last year but said he ended the year at 255 – in order to hold up better over 16 games, but he doesn't believe that will affect his best asset, his speed. "There are other things I do other than just speeding," Ware said. "But that's the key to the whole deal. I'm going to give you speed all the time."
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