Dallas signed Von Miller to a one-year deal on Sunday, and then Jerry Jones did the most Jerry Jones thing available to him: he stood in front of reporters on Monday and said the Cowboys are ready to do it again if something surfaces. That is the story. The Von Miller Cowboys addition was not the end of the shopping trip. It was the appetizer, served loudly, by a man who has never once ordered quietly.

Jones wears two hats, owner and general manager, and the second one has always been the noisier of the pair. He was thrilled with Miller. He said so. And then he made sure everyone in the room understood that thrilled does not mean finished.

What did Jerry Jones say about the Cowboys adding after Von Miller?

The gist from Monday: if another move presents itself, Dallas will be ready. No name attached, no timeline, no promise that anything is close. I do not have a target list in front of me and I am not going to invent one. What I have is an owner who just signed a veteran pass rusher in the middle of August and immediately signaled that the roster is not closed.

That is a tell about how Dallas sees this camp. Teams that feel settled do not say that part out loud.

Why the Von Miller signing fits Dallas right now

Miller went second overall in 2011, behind only Cam Newton, and spent a decade turning that pick into one of the great edge-rushing careers of his era. He is also a Texas kid, DeSoto by way of Texas A&M, which matters exactly zero on third down and quite a lot in a market that still treats homecomings like holidays.

checked the almanac: super bowl 50, february 2016, miller put up two and a half sacks and forced two fumbles against carolina and walked off with the MVP trophy. edge rushers almost never get that trophy. he took it anyway.

Here is the honest read on a one-year veteran deal in August. You are not signing a player to be the best version of himself for seventeen games. You are signing him to be the right version of himself for fifteen or twenty snaps a game, and to still be standing in January when the offensive tackle across from him is on his fourth month of accumulated damage. Rotation, not workload. That is the fit, and it is a sensible one.

The veteran market is still moving in August

Miller is not the only one. Word came Monday that Keenan Allen agreed to a one-year deal with Indianapolis at 34, reuniting him with Shane Steichen from their time together on the Chargers staff. Same shape of transaction: proven veteran, one year, a coach or a franchise who already knows exactly what the player is.

This is what the third week of August looks like now. Rosters trim, cap room shifts, and the guys who were unsigned in June suddenly become the most useful players on the market because they cost one year and no projection. Dallas moved first. Indianapolis moved next. Jones is telling you he intends to move again.

What I'm watching next

Two things. First, how Dallas actually deploys Miller in the preseason snaps that remain, because a designated pass-rush role and a starting role are very different jobs with very different bodies attached. Second, whether Jones's Monday comment turns into a signature or evaporates the way owner enthusiasm sometimes does once the cap sheet gets a vote.

Jerry has been telling us he is open for business for thirty-plus years. Occasionally he means it right now.