Troy Aikman revealed he got several Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders fired by starting relationships with them whilst reigning supreme as the starting quarterback for the team and as a Super Bowl champion.
The NFL Hall of Famer, now aged 57, spent 12 seasons in the top level of American Football where he won six Pro Bowls and three Super Bowls as well as MVP in the 1993 Super Bowl game.
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Across his career, he threw for 32,942 yards, 165 touchdowns and 2898 completions (61.5%) and made a salary in the region of around $4.6m per year in the 1990s but for all of his talent and money, couldn’t save the cheerleaders.
“It was good. It was good. I wouldn’t say dangerous,” Aikman said of being a single Cowboys’ quarterback to The Dan Patrick Show. “I think my, my biggest problem wasn’t a Cowboys rule.
“It was a [cheerleaders] rule, you couldn’t date the cheerleaders. And I still did. Some. And it didn’t fare well for those cheerleaders when people found out.”
Aikman also admitted he couldn’t save them from being axed by the Cowboys organization, adding the cheerleaders for the team were a “totally separate entity.”
Aikman retired from the sport in 2000, three years after his last Super Bowl title, but he hasn’t dipped out of the sport for good as he turned his attention to punditry by working for NFL on Fox from 2001-2021 and working on Monday Night Football since 2022.
He also previously owned the Hall of Fame Racing team that competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and currently serves as part-owner of the MLB’s San Diego Padres organization, who are poised to make it to the 2024 postseason.
Aikman says 40-year-old QBs will become the “norm”
For all of the success during his 12 years with the Cowboys, Aikman might know a thing or two about what it’s like to play as an elite level quarterback and triple Super Bowl champion weighed in on the new rules protecting them.
The 57-year-old retired from the sport at the age of 34 following repeat back problems and injuries thanks to the aggressive style of the game through the 1990s, but he thinks that is now a thing of the past.
“I would probably say the protection on the quarterback,” Aikman told This Is Football of the biggest chance from his time to now. “I played 12 years. I would’ve played much longer.
“I think that the norm going forward is going to be, we’re going to see quarterbacks playing up until they’re 40 years old and beyond. I think if anyone retires before they’re 40 it’s going to be a little bit surprising.”
