The Buffalo Bills should have no regrets about signing Von Miller three years ago.
Buffalo Bills defensive end Von Miller has been released after three seasons with the team.
Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
They were going for a Super Bowl. They needed an elite pass rusher. They could afford to sign him to a six-year, $120 million contract. And they believed Miller, acquired two weeks before turning 33, had plenty left in the tank.
It worked out … for 11 games.
Sure, there were momentary flashes last year, flashes that saw him still able to bend around the corner to pressure the quarterback, but Vintage Von disappeared for good when he tore his left ACL at Detroit on Thanksgiving Day 2022.
Days of playing 50 snaps per game over.
And years of double-digit sacks over.
High-dollar free agency in general, and high-dollar veteran free agency in particular, is always a crapshoot. It is the NFL equivalent of “Buyer Beware.” The Bills knew Miller wouldn’t play six years for them. They hoped for two or three Von-like seasons and then maybe a contract restructure as he transitioned into a supporting role for 2025.
The Miller-Bills partnership ended Sunday with his release, an expected development considering his salary cap number ($23.814 million), age (36 on March 26) and production (six sacks in 20 games last season). His play no longer met his wage.
He had eight sacks in 2022 before his injury. Nobody’s fault.
He came back too early in 2023, playing on a London turf that was pretty much concrete topped with a tablecloth. Everybody’s fault.
And he was suspended for four games in 2024 stemming from a November 2023 domestic violence case involving his pregnant girlfriend (no charges were filed). Miller’s fault.
Add it up, and he had 14 sacks in 41 games – a rate of 0.34 sacks per game compared with a rate of 0.78 sacks per game with Denver and the Los Angeles Rams (126 sacks in 161 games).
Only teams who never take big swings are never wrong, and if you know anything about Bills general manager Brandon Beane, he will rarely keep the bat on his shoulder.
Cutting Miller was costly but necessary. The Bills will absorb a $15.417 million “dead” cap hit but create $8.397 million in space – space they need to address other roster issues.
Miller took a pay cut at this time last year, an act of good faith after his no-sack 2023. Two sacks earned him $1 million, and his sixth and final sack earned him a $1.5 million bonus.
In the playoffs, Miller played 21, 17 and 16 snaps and made a combined two tackles. He went out with a whimper save for a 39-yard fumble return against Baltimore that set up a Bills touchdown.
Last month at the combine, Beane basically ruled out another pay-cut scenario for Miller. Let’s face it: This was an easy business decision for the Bills. Does Miller leave a leadership void? Not really. The defensive end position will now be led by Greg Rousseau. Will he leave a production void? Not really.
What now for the Bills? They have only three edge rushers – Rousseau, A.J. Epenesa and Javon Solomon – under contract. Additions are forthcoming.
What now for Miller? Situational pass-rusher? Probably.
Miller is 25th all-time (since 1960) with 129½ sacks. All 11 players with at least 139½ sacks are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and 16 of the 17 players with at least 136 sacks own a gold jacket (the exception is Terrell Suggs).
Miller is acutely aware of the game’s history – he’s a football guy and knows he had a chance at joining Matt Millen as the only players to win Super Bowls with three different franchises. Millen won with the Raiders, Washington and San Francisco, and Miller with Denver and the Los Angeles Rams.
Winning a ring with the Bills would have been the perfect capstone to Miller’s career. He will always be a Denver Broncos legend – most of our locker-room conversations were about people we knew back in Colorado – but had he helped the Bills to a championship, he would have walked with Josh Allen and Co., forever. And you know Von would have come back to Orchard Park for title-team reunions.
Now? Probably a footnote in Bills history.
Farewell to Miller, and to a worthwhile experiment that worked out … for 11 games.
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