SPORTS KISZLA: IT MAY BE TIME TO TRADE VON SOON
If Vonster can’t get sacks and Broncos can’t win, Elway must ponder a deal
The Broncos pay linebacker Von Miller a ton of money to make NFL quarterbacks miserable. In return for his $17 million salary, Miller can buy anything in the world except an excuse for not doing his job.
After two games, the Broncos have no victories and Miller has no sacks. That’s inexcusable.
I don’t want to hear how Oakland and Chicago designed offensive game plans to negate Miller’s passrushing ability. For years, the Vonster has been shredding game plans specifically designed to keep his mitts off the quarterback.
“I’m right there with you,” Miller said. “When I go to sleep at night, that’s what I say in my head: ‘No matter what they do, I’m still going to be able to get there.’ It doesn’t always work out like that.”
While left tackle Garett Bolles has become the human punching bag for frustrated Broncomaniacs, the player performing furthest under his ability is Miller.
Your stopwatch that shows how quickly the Raiders and Bears threw the football against Miller? Throw it in the garbage after reading this and weeping: On the 25-yard completion to set up Chicago’s winning field goal, quarterback Mitch Trubisky held the football for an interminable 5.26 seconds.
So let me offer this friendly piece of advice to Broncos coach Vic Fangio with love: Offering excuses for no Denver sacks in two games is beginning to grate with the nails-ona-chalkboard sound of former coach Vance Joseph‘s lament that his lousy
team had a good week of practice.
The lack of sacks is messing with Miller’s mind. Is he frustrated?
“I’m sure he is,” Fangio said. “I’m sure he lets you guys and everybody else and himself get into his head a little bit. But I’ve talked to him about that. Hopefully, he listens to me more than the thousand others.”
If Miller is deployed in pass coverage for even one snap against Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, it’s a strategic mistake by Fangio.
Return home with an 0-3 record after a loss to the Packers, and Broncos Country will grow increasingly restless, with even die-hard fans wondering if a full rebuild of this team is necessary … and whether Miller should be offered as trade bait to accelerate the difficult work ahead. Trade the Vonster?
Say it ain’t so. He will forever be the hero of Super Bowl 50 around here.
But regardless of how much it might pain a heart that bleeds orange to contemplate swapping Miller for future draft picks, a Denver team going nowhere would have to at least consider it.
The NFL trade deadline is Oct. 29. Should the Broncos fall out of the playoff hunt during the next month, president of football operations John Elway would be wise to listen if contending teams called with a strong offer for either Miller or cornerback Chris Harris Jr.
Back in the day, NFL general managers did not know how to spell blockbuster, much less pull the trigger on a big trade.
During the last 13 months alone, however, megastars Khalil Mack, Odell Beckham Jr. and Minkah Fitzpatrick were exchanged for at least one future first-round draft pick, an asset once considered so precious it could not even be pried from the cold, dead hands of a league GM.
As a result, it has dawned on stars from Antonio Brown to Jalen Ramsey that they can apply some of the same leverage Anthony Davis, Paul George and their basketball brethren have used to find greener pastures in the NBA. I asked Miller his opinion on this developing trend in pro football.
“I think it’s good,” Miller replied. “If you don’t see a future in a team that you’re in right now, why wait it out? Why waste time on games, why waste energy trying to stick with the same team that you’re with now if you don’t see a future in it, especially if the team doesn’t see a future in it? Why not find a team that does?”
By accepting a $114 million contract from Elway back in 2016, Miller pledged long-term allegiance to the Broncos. But, at the time, nobody could have foreseen the team’s record would be 20-30 in the 50 games after he signed that lucrative deal.
The sense of family in a locker room can be torn asunder as quickly as an elite NFL team tumbles into mediocrity. Loyalty in pro sports is only as solid as the next paycheck, which is why I cannot get angry at any player looking out for his best interest.
“You can’t hide talent and the player that is talented enough to do it, I think they’re able to empower themselves to get out of a contract and find teams that would trade for him,” Miller said. “Whether it’s Fitzpatrick or Ramsey or whoever it is. Especially if the team doesn’t see a future in a player, why not get a trade?”
The bottom line?
“It is a business,” Miller said. “We always say that.”
Would the Broncos ever sack a beautiful relationship with Miller and send him packing in a trade? Would Harris again consider asking out of a city he loves?
Only if it made business sense.