Rams fans were hit with some disappointing news on Wednesday night when Von Miller chose to sign with the Bills instead of staying in Los Angeles. Some began hitting the panic button immediately, while others wondered who might replace Miller as the Rams’ starting edge rusher.
Despite the Rams’ efforts to keep Miller, some fans were even blaming the team for letting him get away. After seeing the contract Miller signed with the Bills, it’s not exactly fair to pin this on the Rams front office for a lack of trying.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Miller got a six-year deal worth $120 million. It makes him the first defensive player ever to earn two contracts of at least $100 million each.
The finer details of the contract show that it’s essentially a three-year, $51.5 million deal with $45 million fully guaranteed at signing. That’s obviously far less than the surface numbers, but it’s still a sizeable contract for a 33-year-old pass rusher.
Corrected: Von Miller’s six-year deal with the Buffalo Bills includes $51.5 million guaranteed, including $45 million fully guaranteed at signing, per sources. https://t.co/Ru5SnYnl2D
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 16, 2022
At $20 million per year, Miller is the seventh-highest paid edge rusher in the NFL. He’s not quite making Aaron Donald money, but he’s not very far off – and his $45 million fully guaranteed is only $5 million less than Donald got with his six-year, $135 million deal in 2018.
Were the Rams really expected to have three defensive players making $20 million per year (including Jalen Ramsey)? Even as good as Donald, Miller and Ramsey are, that would’ve been a big ask.
And not to mention, Donald wants a new contract and probably would like to be the highest-paid defender in the NFL … again. That has to be taken into consideration and likely played a role in the Rams being unable to match the offer that the Bills made Miller.
This isn’t to say Miller’s not worth $51.5 million over three years. He is. But for the Rams, given their cap situation and the need to pay players such as Joseph Noteboom and Brian Allen, it was challenging for them to pony up that much cash.
Miller had a say in all of this, too. He was able to pick his destination. It’s not as if the Rams traded him away or let him go without making an effort to retain him. We don’t know what their offer was, but even if they had matched Buffalo’s contract, who’s to say Miller wouldn’t still have wanted to go to the Bills?
He certainly enjoyed his time in Los Angeles and loved playing alongside Donald, but maybe he wanted to pursue the opportunity to be the first player in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with three different teams.
Regardless of Miller’s reasoning for picking the Bills, blaming the Rams for letting him go is unfair. They wanted him back, made that very clear, and tried to re-sign him. It was just a matter of a Super Bowl contender outbidding Los Angeles.
The trade last November was still worth it, even if it cost the Rams two top-100 picks for half a season of Miller. They won a Super Bowl, he played a big part in that and they’ll now get a fifth-round compensatory pick back for losing him.
Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.
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