When Terry Bradshaw was busy breaking Dallas Cowboys’ hearts in 2 Super Bowls back in the 1970s, his peak annual NFL salary topped out at roughly $470,000. That money is almost half of what the lowest-earning rookie gets in today’s booming NFL economy. Fast-forward through many decades, and after Jerry Jones’ hundreds of millions of dollars, seven head coaches, and over a dozen starting QBs, the Cowboys have limped to a 5-13 playoff record without even getting to an NFC Championship game since January 1996.

With today’s elite signal-callers, like current Cowboys QB Dak Prescott earning around a $60 million annual salary that briefly made him the highest-earning QB in the NFL, the former Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer QB couldn’t resist poking Jerry Jones.

Speaking on The Buddy Martin Show, Terry Bradshaw revealed a hilarious message he delivered straight to Mr. Jones some time after the 2026 Super Bowl. He asked Jones to pay him that modern $60 million annual payday, and he’ll personally end Dallas’s 30-year championship drought!

“I was speaking in Palm Desert, California, this year, and I’m one of the few people who love Jerry Jones,” Bradshaw said on The Buddy Martin Show. “Now people may not like Jerry Jones. My liking someone is directly correlated with how they treat me. If they’re nice to me and kind to me and show me respect, I don’t care what other people say. Jerry Jones has always done that, and I’ve always liked him, always. So I’m speaking, and the guy before I go on stage, the guy goes, ‘Hey, guess who’s in the audience?’ It’s right after the Super Bowl. And I went, ‘I don’t have a clue.’ And he said, ‘Jerry Jones.’ I went, ‘Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys?’ He said, ‘Yeah, yeah, he wanted to hear you speak.’ I went, ‘Get out of here.'”

“So Jerry’s in the audience…Somewhere around three-quarters through the speech, I said, ‘Man, I’m so glad to have Jerry Jones here. Wow, what an honor to have the best owner in the NFL come to hear me speak.’ I said, ‘Hey man, I love you, man. Thank you so much, Jerry, for coming.’ Where are (you?), Stand up, let everybody (see) —he stands up. And I said, ‘Jerry, let me tell you something, buddy. You pay my a-s $60 million, I’ll win you a Super Bowl!’”

Jerry Jones enjoyed the bold proposal, walking up to hug Bradshaw on stage in front of everyone present. Still, once the event ended, in retrospect, Bradshaw wondered whether he should have perhaps held himself back from saying that out loud!

While the Cowboys haven’t hoisted the Lombardi Trophy since the 1996 Super Bowl XXX, Bradshaw went a perfect 4-0 in Super Bowls with Pittsburgh, winning 2 Super Bowl MVPs. That’s what made Terry Bradshaw’s offer hit home even more.

However, long before exchanging friendly hugs with Jones, Bradshaw was the most despised rival across Texas, as he was the reason the Cowboys were denied a victory in Super Bowl X and Super Bowl XIII, as Bradshaw orchestrated 21-17 and 35-31 wins, respectively, in favour of Pittsburgh in both finals. Tom Landry’s Cowboys’ defeats in those two seasons established the Steelers as the 1970’s premier dynasty.

Living in Texas after those victories turned into an occupational hazard, as per his own admission. “I had trucks come at me while I’m running… and I’d run into the ditch, full of sandburs,” Terry Bradshaw confessed.

Locals vandalized his property, going as far as welding his ranch gates shut. In a tragic incident, someone shot his prized black mare right in the front pasture, with an autopsy later uncovering a .22-caliber bullet lodged inside her heart.

However, thankfully, as decades have passed, the fierce rivalry and hatred have grown into respect for the NFL Hall of Famer, with the hug between Jerry Jones and Terry Bradshaw serving as the culmination of this history.