Yesterday Aqib Talib pulled a Von Miller and plastered himself all across our TV screen, as he spent the day going through the ESPN “carwash,” popping up on every show from SportsCenter to The Dan Le Batard Show.
And if there’s one thing we know about Aqib Talib, it’s that if you put a camera and/or microphone in front of him, he’s going to speak his mind.
He touched on Colin Kaepernick, he touched on Brock Osweiler and he touched on his good pal, Von Miller.
“I think that he’s going to be there on the 18th,” Talib said Monday, via Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com. “The last time I talked to him, he was going to be on his way to Denver on the 18th with everybody else.”
With the Broncos reportedly coming in at somewhere between $3-5 million short of Miller’s asking price, there was some concern that he could skip OTAs, if not minicamp and training camp, if a deal wasn’t finished. Currently under the franchise tag, Miller would make just over $14 million in 2016, but he’d be looking at over $20 million on the open market.
The last two players Elway franchised, Ryan Clady and Demaryius Thomas, both held out through offseason workouts before signing a long-term deal near the start of training camp. As we’ve detailed, though, the Broncos are actually in a position where it makes a lot of sense to simply keep Miller on the franchise tag this season, the next and even the next. Not only would it save them millions of dollars, but it would give them continued flexibility, too.
Unfortunately, that’s not a very exciting outcome for Von Miller.
Still, Talib says that Miller isn’t upset with the franchise tag and that he has full confidence a deal will get done eventually.
“But I don’t think Von’s mad about that franchise tag at all,” Talib said. “He’s confident in himself, that a good deal will happen one way or the other, whether it’s this year or whether it’s next year.”
So maybe Miller is the unique type of guy that will put football before money? That’s what Broncos Country is banking on, at least
All that said, there’s almost no chance Miller shows up to the Broncos’ opening offseason workouts next week, and not because he’s holding out or angry at the organization; it’s because he’s just too good of a dancer!
#Broncos Von Miller as Prince Charming. Was light on feet and graceful according to judges. He credited "great coaching." Scored 32 of 40
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) April 12, 2016
With dance Von should be lock to move onto next Monday in #DWTS.So has good reason beyond contract to miss #Broncos first voluntary workout
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) April 12, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA75KfLxY3Q
At least you can’t say he hasn’t been working out!
