It’s ‘ Gloom’ without ‘ Doom’ as Miller moves on minus Dumervil
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Von Miller has a couple of new pass-rushing partners. What he really needs with Elvis Dumervil bolting to Baltimore is a new nickname.
Upon joining the Denver Broncos in 2011, Miller proclaimed that Dumervil was “Batman,” and that made him “Robin.” But with Miller piling up 30 sacks over the last two seasons to Dumervil’s 20½, “Doom & Gloom” became a more fitting moniker.
Dumervil signed with the Ravens as a free agent in March after a fax fiasco in Denver during a contract renegotiation, so Miller finds himself leading a group of players trying to replace Dumervil’s production on the football field and his leadership in the locker room.
Miller said he ditched his offseason yoga regimen for more bench presses this year, and it shows. He has a noticeably thicker torso and biceps and said he’s packing 260 pounds. That’s 5 more than when he had his best games last year, and 23 more than his rookie season. He said he wants to put on a couple more pounds before the season starts, too.
“Yeah, that’s always been a goal for me is to be bigger, stronger and faster at my position,” Miller said. “I’m already undersized as it is, as much as I hate saying that. So as much mass as I can put on but still keep what makes me the player that I am, which is speed and quickness, just so long as I keep that, the more mass that I can put on and keep those guys off me the better.”
To that end, Miller said he spent some time working out with Houston Texans star J.J. Watt this offseason.
What separated Watt from Miller in voting for Defensive Player of the Year honors last year — by a 49-1 margin, no less — was Watt’s pass deflections. Miller makes no secret of his motivation to outshine Watt as the best all-around defender in years to come.
“Physically, J.J. Watt is just massive. He’s constantly in the quarterbacks’ face,” said Miller, who figures he’ll have to outshine his friend with more interceptions, forced fumbles, pick-sixes and the like. “I don’t think anybody in the National Football League can deflect passes or play the way he plays, so I just have to pick it up in other areas of my game.”
What he pledges to match is his work ethic.
“Everybody knows the natural athletic freak he is, but he works at it every single day and I don’t think him winning Defensive Player of the Year was a surprise,” Miller said. “Because he worked at it at this time last year. And that’s the same thing I’m doing, I’m trying to work at it right now. Instead of just doing yoga, I really want to get my cardio up, I really want to get physically more in shape.”
When Miller wasn’t hitting the weights this offseason, he was tending to his new soon-to-be-tenders.
Miller, who studied agriculture and life sciences at Texas A&M, said he bought 38 chickens to put in the coop at his 8-acre estate in Dallas.
“I named them all, all after players on the team. No, I’m just playing. I’m pretty excited about it,” said Miller. “I raised chicks in college in class but now it’s just a project for me to do it on my own and see where I go with it. ... Hopefully, I’ll have chicken tenders for you guys in a little bit.”
The working title of his venture is Miller Farms, “but it’s all raw right now. I mean, who knows? … Hopefully, it’ll snowball into something bigger,” Miller said.