Von Miller was Torn About Signing With Bills Right up Until Moment of Truth

He considered changing his mind until coming to Buffalo to meet with the team.

Von Miller questioned his sanity. Conflicting thoughts were swirling in his head. The man who has more sacks than anyone since entering the NFL in 2011 had reached an agreement with the Buffalo Bills on a six-year contract, but he still wasn't sure if he was going to follow through with signing it.

After all, the the team he was leaving behind proved itself to be the best in football just around a month earlier.

Was he crazy to leave a team like the Los Angeles Rams, who did everything they could to get him back after his contract expired?

He eventually came to the conclusion that the answer was no, but not until after making the journey to Orchard Park to meet with team personnel and convince himself to join an organization that already had been established as the favorite to win the next AFC championship before he even entered the picture.

"These last 24 hours has been exciting," Miller told reporters Thursday at his introductory press conference, held more than four hours after its scheduled start. "It's been tough. You know, I loved being a Los Angeles Ram. I loved being there with all the guys. I had created so many friendships and created so many brotherhoods in a short period of time that ... it's really hard to let that go."

Miller went into more detail about just how torn he was.

"It was hard walking away from those guys, but it was harder walking away from AD [defensive tackle Aaron Donald]. You know, he's a special player — one of the defensive players to ever play this game, if not the best, and I like to think I'm one of the best defensive players that ever played this game as well. I saw the way he did it every single day. I saw what makes Aaron Donald Aaron Donald, and it was it was hard to walk away from that.

"And the only way you could walk away from that is to walk into something special."

Which he convinced himself would be the case if he would just sign that contract in front of him.

"What they're doing here is extremely special," Miller said. They were going to win a Super Bowl with or without me. They've built an amazing team. [Quarterback] Josh Allen and, you know, [wide receiver Stefon] Diggs on the offensive side, and ... [left tackle Dion] Dawkins. You know, I've been a huge fan of of the way he plays for a long time.

"To this defense. You know, No. 1 defense in league, from the safeties, [Jordan] Poyer and Micah [Hyde] and Ed Oliver up front, and now we've got Jordan Phillips and [Tim] Settle, and they made a No. 1 defense even better, and I've got a lot of respect for these linebackers as well — Matt Milano and Tremaine [Edmunds]. So, you know, I've been a big fan of the Bills for a long time."

Miller even thought the Bills were going to draft him with the No. 3 overall pick in 2011, until the Broncos took him off the board with their pick at No. 2.

The Bills would settle for defensive tackle Marcell Dareus instead.

Big difference.

"That whole offseason I thought I was going to be a Buffalo Bill," Miller confessed. "I had already bought into the Buffalo Bills. I had Buffalo Bills gear, I knew about the Bills Mafia. I knew how much this team meant to this community."

Eleven years, 115.5 sacks, seven All-Pro teams and eight Pro-Bowl berths later, Miller finally gets the chance to experience it close up.

"I'm excited to go win a Super Bowl in this city," he said. I'm excited to see Bills Mafia go crazy, I'm excited for all the things that this special place brings. You know, they were already going to be good without me, they were already going to win the Super Bowl without me, and it's an honor and a privilege to be a part of it."

Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.