Vic Fangio Says Von Miller has a 'Hunger About his Game' he Hasn't had the Last Few Years
Von Miller's year, like all Americans, has been very unique. Not only has the eight-time Pro Bowler had to roll with the punches of a pandemic, which canceled the on-field activities of the Denver Broncos Offseason Training Program, but he also had a personal battle with the novel coronavirus.
Miller himself contracted the coronavirus infection back in April but thankfully, despite his higher-risk demographic as a sufferer of asthma, he was able to quickly vanquish the bug and fully recover. Although he beat the virus, that doesn't mean he hasn't had to deal with the collateral effects of the pandemic, which have not only vastly affected the NFL calendar and operations but also how he traditionally works out during the offseason.
Despite these unique obstacles, Miller has attacked the 2020 offseason. Not only did he find a way to host his annual Pass Rushing Summit virtually online, but he clearly took his physical conditioning to another level.
Miller appears to have put on some additional pounds of muscle, which was made evident by the images and video clips he has shared on social media. Coming off a less-than-stellar 2019 campaign in which he failed to reach double-digit sack totals for just the second time in his prolific career, the former Super Bowl 50 MVP seems to have approached this past offseason with a new intensity.
At least, that's how Broncos Head Coach Vic Fangio perceives it. Although Fangio has yet to get hands-on Miller, as the Broncos veteran players reported for training camp on Tuesday (but will have to undergo two stages of COVID-19 testing before gaining admittance to the building), Coach Fangio shared his view on the pass rusher's offseason and mindset entering the 2020 season.
"In relationship to Von, him and I have kept in contact through the offseason," Fangio said on Tuesday via virtual presser. "He sent me some videos and pictures. I do think—again, I haven't seen him with my own eyes—but from everything I hear and know, I do think he's had a hell of an offseason. And we all know he had the COVID there for a little bit, but I don't think he was affected very much by it and it really didn't slow him down much. So I'm anxious to see him. He's put on some weight. I know he's worked extremely hard and I do sense that he's got a hunger to his game and to his attitude that I don't think he's had the last few years."
Miller is entering his age-30 season and 10th year as a pro. Although the expectations were extremely high that he would thrive in Fangio's defensive scheme, it didn't quite shake out that way in 2019.
There were multiple explanations for that, not the least of which could be the natural effects of Father Time. Miller lost his pass-rushing partner opposite of him from Week 5 on when Bradley Chubb suffered an ACL tear.
That loss allowed opponents to focus even more attention on Miller, which resulted in double- and triple-teams often. And it's worth mentioning that, as a first-time head coach, it took Fangio some time to iron out the kinks and exact his defensive vision on the football field.
The Broncos weren't an elite defense in Year 1 of the Fangio era, although they did finish as the No. 1 red-zone unit in the NFL. Again, there were multiple factors that led to Miller's below-average statistical production, including a knee injury he nursed that caused him to miss one start.
As his friend and mentor, DeMarcus Ware, said on Denver-area radio last week, as Miller ages, one of the ways he can forestall the vagaries of Father Time and kind of hack the issues of age is by focusing all the more on being a leader and elevating the players around him. Ware credits his ability to sustain elite-level production on the wrong side of 30 in his own career to his leadership and passing on his knowledge and expertise to his teammates.
The better the guys around you play, the idea goes, the better the opportunity will be for you to succeed. Miller has taken on more of a leadership role within the Broncos locker room post-Super Bowl 50, so maybe that aspect of his game will also intensify this summer.
The young players around Miller on defense could certainly use any and all insights and advantages that they can get with the number of reps and looks they'd traditionally get during an NFL summer being seriously curtailed in the wake of the entire preseason being canceled.
Miller does appear to be a man with a mission. Although Coach Fangio said that Chubb isn't quite 100% as he recovers from that knee injury, on Tuesday he said that he's "damn close."
Getting Chubb back will help take much of the focus off of Miller and give him a larger quantity of one-on-one matchups where he's not chipped by a tight end or running back, or double-teamed with a tackle and guard. In such situations, as fans have seen over the years, the law of averages favors Miller.
He remains virtually impossible to stop one-on-one. It'll be interesting to see if Miller can bounce back from his 'down' year and how he'll take to the tutelage of new OLBs Coach John Pagano.
Considering what we know about Miller, I'm certainly not going to bet against him. However, Ware is 100% correct about the age issue. The older Miller gets, he's going to have to continually search for additional ways to make up for whatever twitch and explosiveness he loses athletically.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
