Eight-time Pro Bowl linebacker Von Miller has agreed terms with the Buffalo Bills on a six-year contract, the team announced Wednesday.
Miller’s deal is worth $ 120 million, according to various reports. Sources told ESPN Adam Schefter that it includes a $ 51.5 million guarantee, including a $ 45 million full guarantee at the time of signing.
The bills also brought veteran Tight End, which they were looking for, to agree with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tight End OJ Howard on a one-year contract. Sources told Schefter that it is a $ 3.5 million deal that will be worth up to $ 5 million.
Miller immediately becomes the best pass-rusher on the Bills’ roster, despite the team having significantly invested in defensive ends in the last two draft picks. Buffalo has used two second-round picks and a first-round pick at the position in the last two years, but it has lacked a player who needs to be consistently aware of opposing insults.
Miller brings the bills just that. His 41 hits last season would have been mostly on the Bills; Jerry Hughes had a team-high 37 pressure for a defense that generated pressure at the second-highest rate last season (34% of dropbacks).
“I’ll always put resources first. It’s just how I believe it should be built,” Bill’s general manager Brandon Beane said earlier this offseason. “And you’re never shocked when you see us trying to add there, free agency or design, at any given moment.”
Miller, who turns 33 on March 26, was a key piece of the Los Angeles Rams’ run for the Super Bowl championship after being selected by the Denver Broncos for the 2022 second and third rounds in November.
Initially slowed by an ankle injury that still suffered in Denver, Miller picked up five sacks for the Rams in eight regular season games, 12. He then went on to pick up four more sacks in the postseason, including two from the Cincinnati. Bengals ‘Joe Burrow in the Rams’ 23-20 victory in Super Bowl LVI.
Miller’s postseason Pass Rush winning percentage of 41.5% was by far the highest of a single player in a single postseason (with a minimum of 30 Pass Rush players with a win or loss) since ESPN started this metric in 2017. pursue. He and teammate Aaron Donald both had 18 pressure and the Rams four playoff games.
It was Miller’s second Super Bowl championship. He was named the Super Bowl 50 MVP when he had 2.5 sacks in the Broncos’ 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers, a team that included Bills coach Sean McDermott as Panthers defensive coordinator and Brandon Beane as a member of the front office.
Buffalo has not finished a season with 10 plus sacks since Lorenzo Alexander in 2016 (12.5). Mario Addison was the only Bills defender with at least five sacks last season (seven). The bills were one of four teams (Houston Texans, Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs) that had one or fewer players with five-plus sacks. The team was involved in the pursuit of other veteran pass rushers this offseason, as well as concluding the defensive line with other free agent signatures.
Miller leads all active players with 115.5 sacks in his career. He recorded at least 10 sacks in seven of his 10 NFL seasons, including a career-best 18.5 in 2012, when he finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year poll. He missed the 2020 season due to a left ankle injury that required surgery.
He was John Elway’s first draft pick for the Broncos (second overall in 2011) and was further named Defensive Rookie of the Year that season. He became one of the most decorated players in Broncos franchise history with eight Pro Bowl selections and three first-team All-Pro selections, and he was selected to the All-Decade Team for the 2010s by the Hall of Fame Board of Selectors.
Howard, 27, will work alongside Dawson Knox, who is coming off a career season, 49 passes for 587 yards. Knox, who became a go-to goal for quarterback Josh Allen, finished 2021 with Buccaneers close-end Rob Gronkowski for the most receiving touchdowns in position (nine).
Howard will contribute yet another weapon to Allen and possibly introduce two more close-end sets for the offense under first-year coordinator Ken Dorsey. The bills used two-plus tight ends on a league-low 100 games last season, according to ESPN statistics & information research. Howard had 400-plus receiving yards in three straight seasons to begin his career, before Gronkowski’s arrival in Tampa Bay.
ESPN Alaina Getzenberg and Brady Henderson contributed to this report.
Add Comment