COMMERCE CITY — Von Miller is committed to playing in the NFL this fall.
He’s quite sure it won’t be with the Broncos.
The former Denver great most recently spent three seasons in Buffalo that ended with his release this winter.
Miller, 36, doesn’t know where he’s going to play in 2025, but he predicted Wednesday that it wouldn’t be in the city where he spent the first nine years of his career.
“If you look at this year, it really doesn’t make sense,” Miller said at a vision clinic here where he was hosting a Von’s Vision event. “They’ve got two really, really good rushers that are best in the league with Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto. They’re incredible rushers. And the guys underneath them, they come in and produce sacks, too.”
Miller, 36, also had a practical take on why young players like Jonah Elliss, Dondrea Tillman and fourth-round pick Que Robinson could also be part of the reason a team doesn’t need a future Hall of Famer with 129.5 career sacks.
“They play special teams,” he said with a smile. “I’m not playing special teams, so that kind of makes the decision itself. I think at 36 years old, I can say that I probably won’t be doing that.
“So this year, probably not. The year after that, we’ll see what happens.”
Miller, however, is confident he’ll have a job somewhere in 2025 for a very simple reason.
“I can get out of bed and rush the passer and get sacks,” he said. “I can fall out of bed and do that. I can still play the run, still eat up one-on-ones, still beat tight end chippers and running backs. I can roll off the bed and get sacks in my house shoes still today at 36 years old.
“More important than that, when it comes to the locker room — I don’t like to toot my own horn — but when it comes to the locker room and being around the guys, I just have that ability. I have that talent from the star quarterback to the new, undrafted rookies that you bring in.”
Even with two teams, a Super Bowl title and more than three years separating Miller from the day he was traded by the Broncos to the Los Angeles Rams, he’s still a fan of the franchise and still spends time on the Front Range.
On this day, he helped give away nearly 200 pairs of glasses to 100 children during a sold-out day at a local vision clinic.
Von’s Vision, now 14 years in, is “old enough to drive and have a mind of his own,” he joked. It’s one of the reasons he keeps coming back to Colorado every offseason.
“Driving by the stadium when I got here last night, driving by the stadium and going to the hotel and seeing the stadium and the lights, it was incredible,” Miller said. “… Broncos Country was good to me. Whenever you step off the plane and you’re in Broncos Country, you just get this feeling. Of course, it’s the altitude, too, but I spent so much time here — 11.5 years — and it was all love and all respect. Mutual respect from both sides. It will always be love here.”
Miller got an up-close-and-personal look at the Broncos each of the past two seasons in Buffalo, first in a 2023 Monday Night Football game and then in January during the Wild Card round.
Consider him impressed.
“I was part of that quarterback carousel and now they’ve got them one,” Miller said. “They’ve got one for sure. Bo Nix, I’ve seen him play and I’ve played against him. He’s the real deal. The defense is incredible with Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper. … (Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph) is an incredible coach. Played with him as well. Zach Allen on the inside is one of the best defensive tackles in the league. They led the league in sacks last year.
“They’ve got an incredible team. Bo Nix, this will be his second year coming up and I know he expects more and Broncos Country expects more as well. I know he has more. He’s going to keep on growing.”
On he went. Former teammates Courtland Sutton and Garett Bolles. Young talent like Marvin Mims Jr. Long-time staple on the opposing side of the line of scrimmage, Mike McGlinchey.
“This Broncos team is really rounding off into a very good team,” he surmised.
It’s maybe a bit ironic, then, that the same depth Miller marvels at is part of the reason he himself sees no logical path to returning.
So he’ll play somewhere. And after so many years of wishing he had more free time during these months on the calendar, he’ll be glad to get to that somewhere pronto.
“The offseason’s a little longer than I expected it to be, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Miller said. “You reminisce, too, whenever you have all this time. You think about all these OTAs and summer training sessions where you were like, ‘Man, why do I have to be here? Why I got to be at OTAs?’ Now I’m sitting at home like, ‘Man, I wish I was at OTAs right now.’
“It’s kind of that reverse. But I’m appreciative and I’m grateful and that time will come here soon.”
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