Report: Broncos to Exercise Final Year of Von Miller's Contract
Von Miller will remain a Denver Bronco — a least for 2021. With the deadline rapidly barreling down on the Broncos, 9NEWS' Mike Klis broke the news early Tuesday.
Klis also reported that new GM George Paton offered Miller a new multi-year contract last week, which included a pay-cut, and the eight-time Pro Bowler declined. Then, the phone rang in the wee hours of Monday following the whirlwind of Day 1 of the NFL's legal tampering window.
"Von Miller was preparing himself for both scenarios -- leaving and staying. He and GM George Paton talked last night, I'm told, and Von said he wanted to keep playing for the Broncos. The option was picked up," Klis tweeted Monday.
Exercising the option guarantees $7 million of Miller's $17.5 million salary in 2021. He'll be hunting quarterbacks in the Orange and Blue at least one more year.
Miller took to Instagram to react to his team's decision to keep him around at a very, very steep price.
The sting of Kareem Jackson being jettisoned could be mitigated by Miller's return for embattled head coach Vic Fangio. Fangio has been a strong proponent of keeping Miller around in 2021 and has voiced to Paton how good the former Super Bowl 50 MVP looked last summer before suffering that season-ending ankle injury at the tail-end of training camp.
With Fangio's back against the wall in a do-or-die year, the veteran coach will get Miller back along with the Pro Bowler Bradley Chubb. When last those two roamed the edges together for Denver back in 2018, for a full 16 games, the duo combined for 26.5 sacks.
Exhale, Broncos Country. Miller isn't going anywhere. Yet.
Paton and Miller still have a bridge to cross if he's going to truly retire a Bronco. But he'll have to show out on the grid-iron in order to coax the type of new deal he wants out of Paton.
Miller is the Broncos' all-time leader in sacks (106) and one of only two remaining contributors from Super Bowl 50. His return to the locker room, along with the newly-paid Shelby Harris, will be a blast of confidence for the Broncos.
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