The offer Denver made to Miller in June included just $39.8 million guaranteed in the first two years.
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Von Miller and the Denver Broncos have agreed to a new contract.
This week, Houston’s deal – six years, $101 million with $52.5 million in guarantees – was blown out of the water, the Suh and Cox deals were surpassed, and Luck was Miller’s only true competition.
Miller’s guaranteed money is eclipsed by only that of Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck, who will receive $75 million in guarantees in his $140 million contract extension. It is the largest contract for a non-quarterback in league history, and Miller was certainly worthy of the deal. Total $25 million (fully guaranteed).
Miller’s signing puts a positive ending on an offseason that started with significant losses from the team that won the Super Bowl in February. If a longer deal isn’t reached, Miller could play this season for $14,129,000 under the franchise tag, but he said there was “no chance” that would happen. The outside linebacker has agreed to a six-year, $114,500,000 contract with the Denver Broncos. He’ll be another year older, though, and maybe teams won’t want to offer as much guaranteed money. Quarterbacks will still rule the contract roost in the National Football League, at least for the foreseeable future – and the Bucs are going to have to start creating cap space for the inevitable Jameis Winston extension, too. Vernon signed a five-year, $85 million deal with $52.5 million guaranteed.
$70 million of that is said to be guaranteed.
Despite Miller’s saying he expected negotiations to be “peaceful” and that he “trusted” Elway things had gotten emotional in recent weeks. Last month, he threatened to sit out the season absent a blockbuster deal. Then in the postseason, Miller had five sacks, where he had 2.5 in the Super Bowl and was named MVP.
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That is a core of players with more than enough talent to keep Denver’s defense among the top units in the league and, if Miller lives up to his contract and produces the kind of form that saw him record 11 sacks a year ago, the Broncos should be right in the mix in the AFC West once again. His sack and strip on Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton in Super Bowl 50 gave the Broncos their first touchdown, and set the tone for the entire game, which was dominated by the Broncos defense, who held a powerful Carolina offense to a measly 10 points. His 2013 campaign was rough one as he was suspended six games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, along with tearning his right ACL near the seasons end.
