Eight-time Pro Bowl linebacker Von Miller has agreed to terms with the Buffalo Bills on a six-year contract, the team announced Wednesday.
The Bills also agreed with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end O.J. Howard on a one-year contract. Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter it’s a $3.5 million deal that could be worth up to $5 million.
Miller immediately becomes the best pass-rusher on the Bills’ roster, despite the team significantly investing in defensive ends in the past two drafts. Buffalo has used two second-round picks and one first-round pick on the position in the past two years but lacked a player that opposing offenses needed to be consistently aware of. Miller brings the Bills just that.
Miller, who turned 33 on March 26, was a key piece of the Los Angeles Rams’ run to the Super Bowl championship after he was acquired from the Denver Broncos in November for 2022 second- and third-round picks.
Initially slowed by an ankle injury suffered while still in Denver, Miller recorded five sacks for the Rams in eight regular-season games after the trade, ranking 12th in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric (20.9%). He then proceeded to record four more sacks in the postseason, including two of the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow in the Rams’ 23-20 victory in Super Bowl LVI.
Miller’s postseason pass rush win rate of 41.5% was by far the highest by a player in a single postseason (with a minimum of 30 pass-rush plays with a win or loss) since ESPN started tracking that metric in 2017. He and teammate Aaron Donald both had 18 pressures in the Rams’ four playoff games.
It was Miller’s second Super Bowl championship. He was named the Super Bowl 50 MVP when he had 2.5 sacks in the Denver Broncos’ 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
Buffalo has not had a player finish a season with 10-plus sacks in a season since Lorenzo Alexander in 2016 (12.5). Mario Addison was the only Bills defender with at least five sacks last season (seven). The Bills were one of four teams (Texans, Falcons, Chiefs) that had one or fewer players with five-plus sacks. The team was involved in the pursuit of other veteran pass rushers this offseason, as well as rounding out the defensive line with other free agent signings.
Miller leads all active players with 115.5 sacks in his career. He has recorded at least 10 sacks in seven of his 10 NFL seasons, including a career-best 18.5 in 2012 when he finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. He missed the 2020 season because of a left ankle injury that required surgery.
He was John Elway’s first draft pick for the Broncos (second overall in 2011) and went on to be named Defensive Rookie of the Year that season. He went on to become one of the most decorated players in Broncos franchise history with eight Pro Bowl selections and three first-team All-Pro selections, and he was chosen for the all-decade team for the 2010s by the Hall of Fame’s board of selectors.
ESPN’s Brady Henderson contributed to this report.