Broncos Plan to Exerise Von Miller's 2020 Option, Though Team Still Believes he Could 'Play Better'

Von Miller is coming off a 'down' year as pass rusher and now the Denver Broncos enter the 2020 offseason with a decision to make. Do the Broncos pick up the option on Miller's $17.5 million salary?

Or does the team ask the eight-time Pro Bowler to perhaps take a pay-cut? After all, Miller is paid to be an elite pass rusher and while he racked up QB pressures at a prolific rate in 2019, he struggled ultimately to get home and sack the passer.

Those game-changing plays that he's built a career on simply were nowhere to be found in Vic Fangio's first year in Denver. There's an argument to be made whether Von's performance last season was commensurate with his cost.

In his end-of-season press conference alongside Fangio, GM John Elway was asked point-blank whether the Broncos will exercise Miller's 2020 option.

"Yeah," Elway said succinctly.

That's the plan. For what it's worth, in 15 games, Miller might have only notched eight sacks, which is a career-low for a season in which he appeared in at least 10 games, but he was still ranked in the top-10 in total pressures. Miller ranked No. 7 with 77 total pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, which included 10 hits and 58 hurries.

Von also contributed 46 combined tackles (33 solo) with 10 tackles for a loss. He also tipped two passes at the line. He finished as PFF's No. 22-ranked edge defender, a precipitous plummet from the perennial top-5 finish he posted for many consecutive years.

Opposing offenses still game-planned around Miller and without a viable edge rusher to compliment him for 11 of the 15 games he appeared in, it was too easy for opponents to double- and triple-team him out of the game. Keep in mind, Miller's edge-rushing partner opposite of him has always been a force to be reckoned with, outside of the 2013 season — but that year was a statistical outlier for him because he served a six-game suspension to start the season before later tearing his ACL and ending up on injured reserve.

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Whether it was Elvis Dumervil, DeMarcus Ware or Bradley Chubb, every time Miller reached double-digit sacks in a season, which has happened in each year he's been a Bronco outside of the aforementioned 2013 campaign and 2019, he had a Pro Bowl-caliber partner to help take some of the focus off of him.

From Week 5 on, Miller was basically on his own this past season, not to take anything way from Malik Reed or Jeremiah Attaochu, both of whom contributed admirably in the wake of Chubb's season-ending ACL injury.

Considering also that 2019 was Miller's first year in Fangio's scheme, perhaps it's fair to view this past season as another outlier for the former Super Bowl 50 MVP. There were multiple mitigating factors that contributed to Miller's 'down' year, but considering his salary and past impact, it's difficult to argue that 2019 wasn't at least somewhat disappointing for him.

However, the team brass views Miller as a key piece of the puzzle moving forward and we know he wants to "be part of the solution" in turning the Broncos' ship around in 2020 and beyond. All signs point to Miller returning in 2020.

But Elway and Fangio are going to step away for a month before going back and breaking down and grading each player. It'll be interesting to see if the team's tune changes with Miller at that point because at season's end, the general tonality from the front office was that he could have played better.

"That’s why, Von played very well yesterday and he’s going to get better, continue to get better and I think that Von still has a lot of football in him—a lot," Elway said the day after the Broncos defeated the Oakland Raiders 16-15 in the season finale. "I would say that I think that he can still play better than he played this year. I would tell that to him in my office that I think you can play better. He cares about it and that’s the key thing. He cares about it.”

No doubt, Miller cares. He made that clear following the Broncos' 23-3 shellacking in the snow at Arrowhead Stadium when he unloaded in an emotional post-game presser, castigated his teammates and coaches for not rallying better around rookie QB Drew Lock vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.

We know Miller wants to be a Bronco. His teammates in the locker room respect him and follow him. Barring some crazy, unforeseen circumstances, or mighty change of heart in the front office, he'll be back for year 10 as a Bronco in 2020.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.