Broncos defensive lineman Derek Wolfe was diplomatic in his interview with SiriusXM on Tuesday, but one might infer that he’s not thrilled with Von Miller and his standoff with the team.
“Business is business, and that’s his business. And he has to do what he’s gotta do,” Wolfe said regarding Miller’s contract situation (transcription via PFT). “Obviously, I took a different route and decided that this is where I want to be so I’m going to take a significant haircut to stay here, and that’s fine with me. But some people don’t feel that way.”
Back in January, Wolfe and the Broncos agreed to a four-year, $36.75MM extension with $12MM fully guaranteed. Had Wolfe tested the open market, he likely could have bested those numbers. While Wolfe was comfortable signing a team-friendly pact to stay in Denver, Miller is determined to get what he perceives as fair value. From my perspective, it’s hard to fault the Super Bowl 50 MVP for standing his ground.
Here’s the latest on the Broncos and Miller:
- Even though it may be an attractive Plan B, the Broncos are not thinking about the possibility of trading Von Miller this week, Mike Klis of KUSA writes. In theory, the Broncos could trade Miller before the Friday deadline, allowing the team acquiring Miller to sign him to a multi-year deal. After the Friday deadline, Miller’s trade value takes a significant nosedive as he would be ticketed for the open market. Even though a Miller trade sounds like a reasonable fallback option, it doesn’t sound likely at this time.
- At this point, the Broncos are confident that they’ll get a deal done by Friday, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link). Echoing Klis’ report, Cole says that the idea of a trade has only come up “in passing” between the Broncos and Miller’s camp.
- Multiple teammates have expressed confidence this week that Miller will sign a long-term deal, Troy Renck of The Denver Post writes. Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who is also working on a new contract with Denver, said he understood why his contract talks were on pause because “all of the focus should be on Von right now.”
Broncos with a healthy and productive Von Miller, Super Bowl contender (assuming they trade for a competent QB).. Broncos trade away the Super Bowl MVP, no longer a Super Bowl contender… I am not a Bronco or A&M fan, but watching Miller in the SB was one of the more dominating defensive efforts I have ever seen. Reminiscent of Suh against UT in the Big 12 championship back in 2011 I believe.
As a self-publisher of an NFL book, one that tracks how teams will rank in all regular season winning percentage over the 50 years since the AFL/NFL merger, I see this as a huge factor in how the 2016 season will play out.
As a nearly 5 decade fan of the the Broncos I don’t see Elway letting Von rock the boat anymore than he has as they head into camp. Denver has a tough schedule to plow though in 2016 and I am confident the Elway / Kubiak duo will produce a winning QB bridge of Peyton to Paxton. If Denver is to become the 1st team this decade to go back-to-back the MVP of the 1st one will be a key.
On a team note, Denver has to make up a roughly 18 game deficit to the Steelers in the next four years to be the #1 team in that stat of regular season games played since the AFL became the AFC & the NFC was formed from most the old school NFL teams.