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Von Miller

It’s that time of year where teams in the National Football League are attempting to work out long-term deals with players that they previously slapped the franchise tag on as they didn’t want those players to hit free agency. And the franchise tag player that has the most intrigue around him this off-season is Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller. The Broncos made Miller the second overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft and he has been a menace since his first day in Denver. In 2011, Miller accumulated 11.5 sacks to be named as the NFL’s Rookie of the Year as he helped the Broncos win the AFC West for the first time in six years. In 2012, Miller set a Broncos single-season sack record with 18.5 as he helped Denver finish with the best record in the AFC. Miller suffered a torn ACL during the 2013 NFL season and he missed the Broncos run to an appearance in Super Bowl 48, but he would return in 2014 to tally 14 sacks.

After the Broncos were upset by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2014-2015 AFC Divisional Playoffs, there were wholesale changes made when the team’s executive vice president of football operations John Elway fired John Fox as the team’s head coach. Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio had already agreed to become the head coach of the Oakland Raiders which left a void there as well. Elway would hire his friend and former Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak to be the Broncos new head coach, while Wade Phillips would be hired as the team’s new defensive coordinator.

Last season would see Phillips oversee a Broncos defense that joined the 1975 Minnesota Vikings and 1991 Philadelphia Eagles as the only teams in National Football League history to be the top-ranked defense while also being first in yards allowed via the pass and run. Miller was the centerpiece of this stingy defense as he had 11 sacks. And unlike the Vikings and Eagles, the Broncos were able to advance to the Super Bowl and win it.

Miller had a game for the ages in Super Bowl 50 and he set the tone in the first quarter when he recorded a sack and forced a fumble on Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton that was recovered in the end zone by Broncos defensive end Malik Jackson for the game’s first touchdown. The Broncos never trailed in the game, while Miller was front and center for a defense that pressured, bullied, and harassed the National Football League’s MVP in Newton for 60 minutes. Miller would finish the game with 2.5 sacks and it was only fitting that he would be named as Super Bowl MVP.

Miller was Elway’s first draft pick with the Broncos, and he is already fifth on the franchise’s all-time sack list with 60. Miller helped to bring the Broncos defense close to the level that fans remember from the famed “Orange Crush” unit during the late 1970’s which catapulted Denver to their first Super Bowl appearance to culminate the 1977 National Football League season. Miller is a pass rusher in the mode of great edge rushers such as Lawrence Taylor and Julius Peppers that can interrupt the game plan of an opposing offense, while also setting his teammates up to make plays due to the constant double and triple-teams that he faces; so why haven’t he and the Broncos worked out a long-term deal?

John Elway

Elway has a history of keeping a hard line stance in contract negotiations with his players which is evident by all of the defections this off-season from Denver. I can understand allowing players such as Jackson who signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and quarterback Brock Osweiler who came to an agreement with the Texans to leave Denver as they were bit players, but Miller is a superstar and you need stars to win in the National Football League regardless of what some people may think.

This off-season has seen the Broncos offer Miller a six-year deal that is worth $114 million with nearly $39 million in guaranteed money. But Miller has seen the money that defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh got from the Miami Dolphins last year and that defensive tackle Fletcher Cox recently received from the Philadelphia Eagles. Neither Suh or Cox has helped their respective team make the second round of the playoffs more less win a Super Bowl, but they are cashing in more than Miller would if he had agreed to the Broncos offer as each player is more than $50 million in guaranteed money. If Miller had agreed to that deal, he would have also been taking less guaranteed money than Jackson who received $42 million in guaranteed money from the Jaguars, and his success was built off of the work of Miller.

The Broncos and Miller have until July 15 to work out a new contract, but he has already let it be known that he doesn’t intend to play in 2016 unless he receives the new deal that he is seeking. Miller’s absence would be a huge blow to a Broncos defense that has already lost starters in Jackson to the Jaguars and linebacker Danny Trevathan to the Chicago Bears, while cornerback Aqib Talib is recovering from a gunshot wound that he recently suffered at a Dallas nightclub. And more than ever Miller’s presence is needed; especially since the Broncos will have a new starting quarterback this season; whether it is Mark Sanchez, or the team’s first-round pick in Paxton Lynch which means that Denver will once again rely on their defense to win games.

Stubbornness is what has gotten the Broncos into this bind, and at some point humility is what Elway is going to have to rely on as players such as Miller cannot be replaced that quickly or easily. I’m sure that between now and the start of the new season that we’ll see Miller and the Broncos reach a new deal. But after Miller has meant so much to the Broncos which includes assisting to add another Vince Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl Champions to the mantle in Denver, it should not have had to come to this. However this is the underbelly of the business that is the National Football League as most teams are always looking to cut corners in contract negotiations in spite of how important that an individual player might be.

Source: Pro-football-reference.com

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By | 2016-06-17T22:50:45+00:00 June 17th, 2016|Categories: National Football League|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

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