Bills' Von Miller Working Fulltime on Eluding Father Time
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From the moment Von Miller's six-year, $120 million free-agent contract with the Buffalo Bills was announced, it was widely considered to be a de facto three-year deal in which the Bills would only really pay out less than half that amount.
Only Miller has other plans. The 33-year-old defensive end has gone on record saying he wants to go all the way to the end.
On Tuesday, after the first practice of mandatory minicamp, he spoke a little about how he plans to make good on that by fighting (and winning) an endless battle with father time.
"I honestly do everything that you possibly can do to keep your body fresh," Miller said. "Whenever I leave here ... the rest of my day is getting ready for the next day with massages, nutrition, whether that's getting acupuncture ... cryo. You know, it's 2022, and we've got so many different things that can help us recover. I'm doing them all. I'm doing them all, trying to get an edge and trying to recover as fast as I can.
"And, you know, that's been my secret."
While six more years may seem unrealistic to everyone except Miller, it would not be without precedent. The Bills' own Bruce Smith played until age 40, retiring after providing 5.0 sacks for Washington in 2003. He last played for the Bills in 1999 at age 36.
But first things first.
Miller also is hoping to be the final piece to the Bills' Super Bowl puzzle this year, and he has had a plan for that too ever since sitting down with coach Sean McDermott for the first time.
"Honestly, my very first conversation with Coach McDermott, it was one that made me come here," Miller said. "I was a believer in Coach McDermott like right when I flew here. I was still on the fence about coming to Buffalo just to be honest. But then I talked to Coach McDermott and I just felt his authenticity. I felt that he was genuine, I felt that he was real and I felt like that was a coach I want to play for.
"So, you know, being around him, I'm learning stuff. He's learning stuff from me. I really just pay everything that I've learned before me forward, like everything I've learned around Peyton Manning and Demarcus Ware and Coach [Gary] Kubiak and Coach [Vic] Fangio and all those great defensive coordinators and coaches, everything that I learned from all these guys. I just I just pay it forward to the players and coaches. So that's all I'm doing."
Miller comes to Buffalo with 115.5 regular-season sacks and 10.5 more in the postseason, which includes two Super Bowl victories.
He most recently helped the Los Angeles Rams win it all in February. That, after being traded from Denver in midseason.
When his contract expired, he nearly re-signed with the Rams. He didn't because he felt his chances of winning another title were even better with the Bills.
"I wasn't content where I was at," Miller said."I still wanted more, you know, to come here, selfishly, and be the only guy [other than Matt Millen] that ever won the Super Bowl with three different teams. You know, that's selfishly that's what I want. ... I just want to be a part of something special. This is a special team. They're right on the edge, and I just wanted to be that last drop to overflow these guys."
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Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
