COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Von Miller was back in the Denver area Wednesday, giving over 80 local children the gift of good sight through his Von’s Vision program, which is in its 14th year of donating glasses to kids in the community. It’s a program that has grown with him, and he’s continued to nurture it, even as his playing path took him to Los Angeles and Buffalo.
But he knows that despite his continued love for the Broncos, a return isn’t in the cards — at least not this year.
“I haven’t heard anything,” Miller said. “But I mean, if you look at it this year, it really doesn’t make sense.”
He knows what is obvious based on the Broncos’ roster — it’s stacked at edge rusher. They have two returning double-digit sackers in second-team All-Pro Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper, who signed a four-year contract extension last season.
Their rotational reserves, Jonah Elliss and Dondrea Tillman, did so well last year as rookies that Baron Browning was deemed redundant upon his return from injured reserve and dealt to the Arizona Cardinals one day before the trade deadline.
“They got two really, really good rushers that are best in the league. And with Jonathan Cooper and Nik Bonitto, they are incredible rushers,” Von Miller said. “And the guys underneath them, they come in, they produce sacks too, and they play special teams.”
And that’s another key factor. To be a reserve who isn’t a pass-rush specialist, one must have a special-teams role.
That isn’t Von Miller, not now.
“I’m not playing special teams. So they kind of — that decision kind of makes itself. I think at 36 years old, I can say that I probably won’t be doing that.”
So, what was obvious to observers is obvious to Miller — he just isn’t a fit, despite the public lobbying of former teammate Julius Thomas.
“Yeah, just this year, probably not,” Miller said. “But, you know, the year after that, next year, we’ll see what happens.”
Always in motion, the future is, as Yoda once said.
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VON MILLER IS STILL WAITING FOR A SHOT
Organized team activities are under way around the NFL. The Broncos began theirs this week; they convened for practice Tuesday.
That Von Miller was helping youngsters get new glasses in Commerce City rather than working out with a new team was certainly noble, but not where he expected to be after the Buffalo Bills released him in March.
“Whenever you have all this time, you reminisce and you think back about all these OTAs and these summer training sessions where you’re like, ‘Man, why I gotta be here? Why I gotta be here? OTAs, why I gotta do this?'” he said.
“And now you’re sitting at home like, ‘Man, I wish I was at OTAs right now.’ So it’s kinda got that reverse. But I’m appreciative and I’m grateful.”
All Von Miller can do is keep himself in shape.
“So, I’m still training, I’m still working,” he said, “and whenever I get a good offer, a good call, then I’ll be ready to go.”
That is probably easier to do now that Miller is not in western New York. As he reflected on his three seasons with Buffalo, something stood out beyond football:
“The food was incredible,” Miller said. “That’s one thing I’m gonna miss, is the food there in Buffalo. Probably — it’s probably a good thing because it’s hard to get those pounds off at 36 years old, but the food was great.”
Von Miller made it clear that he expects to be on the field somewhere this season.
“I’m playing football this year,” he said. It’s just a matter of what team.”
It just won’t be the Broncos.