For a marquee player now in his seventh year in the NFL, Von Miller has seen more than his fair share of change.
Three head coaches, four defensive coordinators, six quarterbacks. And that’s just what he’s experienced on the field.
Off it, Miller has gone from facing a six-game suspension for violating the league’s drug policy to being one of the most recognizable faces of the game.
Yet for all the things that have changed over the years, there are constants that have helped make Miller one of the league’s premier players with a ceiling that seems to raise every year. Constants with his teammates. Constants within the organization. And constants within himself.
Miller met the media following last Wednesday’s OTA practice at UCHealth Training Center and spent a good deal of his time in front of the press talking about the way things have stayed the same, despite all the changes he’s encountered lately.
In his now sevens seasons with the Broncos, Miller has reported in to four different defensive coordinators. His newest DC, Joe Woods, is a familiar face (Woods coached the Denver defensive backs the past two years), but it’s the longstanding success of the Denver defense that has Miller feeling confident amidst yet another change at the top of the defensive coaching ranks.
“We’ve always had great defensive coordinators. From DA (Saints Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen) to [Raiders Head Coach] Jack [Del Rio] and [Rams Defensive Coordinator] Coach [Wade] Phillips, all of the defensive coordinators that we’ve had, we’ve always been good and we’ve always been able to rush the passer. Joe Woods has been with us for three years now. He knows us. He has a great mind. He knows how to relate to guys, especially the secondary. That’s the strength of our defense. He brings a calm voice … It’s just a special environment here, especially on defense. We’ll come out here and work hard. Whatever happens, we’ll be okay with.”
Much of Denver’s success on defense comes from a consistent core of veterans, Miller included, who hold one another accountable. That was apparent even back in April when the team first began its offseason training program.
“It’s a great advantage,” Miller said in April of how the veterans were adjusting to the new coaching staff. “We police ourselves in the locker room. We know what a good practice looks like. We know what a bad practice looks like. Nobody has to come and tell us. We have great coaches, so they’re going to stay on top of that as well. We have a great veteran core in the locker room. Everything is able to run a whole lot smoother when you have those pieces in place.”
The coaching changes haven’t just been on the defensive side. Miller is also on his third head coach in seven years.
Turnover like that is rare for an organization that boasts five division titles, two conference championships and a world title over six seasons, but Miller sees the championship-quality leadership coming from even higher than the coaching tree in Denver. As a result, having yet another new head coach doesn’t seem like a severe change.
“It’s not changing that much,” Miller said about the difference between new head coach Vance Joseph and former head coach Gary Kubiak. “We have great leadership here. Duke (executive vice president of football operations/GM John Elway), he’s not going anywhere. As long as he’s here, it’s going to be the same. We’ll still have a championship chance every year. He’s going to put guys in here that are going to help us win. Not only the coaching staff, but from the scouts, all the way down to the chefs that we have. We have championship quality guys all over this facility. Mr. Elway has done a great job since he’s been here to help develop this organization to where it is now. It’s always going to be like that as long as we have that leadership in place.”
On a personal level, Miller experienced a major change in his public stock following his breakout performance in Super Bowl 50. While fans in Denver and in the NFL were always well aware of his superstar-caliber play, the whole world came to know his name with the dominant performance that earned him Super Bowl MVP honors. His affable personality and winning smile turned that performance into seemingly endless marketing opportunities last offseason. Miller made the rounds across countless talk shows, signed lucrative endorsement deals and even starred on the reality/competition show “Dancing with the Stars.”
Things have not been so busy for Miller this offseason, as Denver missed the playoffs entirely. Demand for his services are still high, but nothing compared to what they were this time last year. Still, Miller hasn’t changed his mindset from then to now.
“It’s still moving the same,” he said of this offseason compared to last. “With me, I never really like to look ahead. I like to take it one day at a time and take advantage of the time that I have. The 24 hours that I have, I like to take advantage of that. When I go off campus or away from work, I like to take advantage of that time. I don’t really look too far ahead.”
And although he’s not looking too far ahead, he’s certainly looking ahead. The struggles of his past have no influence on the present, nor do the successes. Each year is different, but the same in that he expects it to be his best.
“Me personally, I always felt like my best season is my season coming up next. It’s just how I always played,” Miller said. “I played in my rookie season and I came in, and alright, my next season is going to be my best one – 2013. It didn’t work like that for me, but I came back and said, ‘2014 is going to be my best one.’ It happened to be my second-best season. 2015 was a great season for me as well. We won the Super Bowl – Super Bowl MVP. Next year after that I was like, ‘This is going to be my best year.’ 2016, I came in and finished second in [Associated Press Defensive] Player of the Year voting. I like to say that this season is going to be my best season yet.”