'Angry' Von Miller wants to get back to old self for Bills in 2024: Can he do it?

what's up everybody welcome back into shout a Buffalo Bills football podcast we have missed you all it has been uh little bit of a break after mini camp kind of recharged the batteries a little bit but man things are going to start picking up heavy Fast and Furious here over the next couple of weeks Ryan as we move our way towards training camp we'll obviously touch on a bunch of different topics on the way to the start of training camp uh but Today's Show should be pretty fun how are you my friend I am doing great uh right in that mix of start of summer which means tons of summer projects but uh other than that doing well and looking forward to like you said to training camp here which is right around the corner um we are going to be packed this month obviously we'll have h a live show at least out at St John fiser College uh right around there at Dorado uh we have a date on that I'll bring that to you in a moment uh but we're going to be first up July 11th get this on your calendar uh it is a Thursday night we will be back at 29's kitchen bar the patio is going to be open it's going to be rocking they're gonna have uh Chuck and the boys are gonna have some awesome deals for everybody some drink specials uh their menu is absolutely amazing uh I'm gonna I'm going to try a few more items when we're out there this time we're going to be setting stage setting things up talking bills with everybody Ryan we're so excited about this one yeah had a great time the last time we were there filled up the the bar now that it's uh summer weather we can be out on that patio so bills Mafia turn up and show up and uh we'll have a great time uh it is July or August 4th is the wing nut show and we're coming to Dorado during training camp uh we're gonna be at Dorado Wing nuts is driving up at least 2,000 chicken wings to make on the property there Dorado has so many awesome fun drinks uh they have their own menu of amazing food uh we're going to have a live show there it's going to be an awesome time um so get those two dates on your calendar July 11th August 4th uh it's going to be a great time all right so let's get into today's topic and when when this dropped last week Ryan like it it definitely like perked up my ears and and had me very interested to talk about Von Miller because I've noticed a different Von Miller you know over the course of the last six to eight months even going back to the end of last season a guy that you know brings the energy brings the Vibes brings the smiles right like you you can't miss it he hasn't been the same guy like since the injury um or at least maybe since trying to come back from the injury because before he played last year I thought we saw a guy that was still the same you know uh bringing the energy trying to like get Mo people motivated in the locker room but somewhere along the way I I felt like he stopped being that guy and that energy level just wasn't at the same spot we talked about it during mini camp where he said yeah like there was times where he doubted himself I'm gonna read this quote and then we're GNA get into it um he was asked in an interview with Sports Illustrated about his biggest individual and team goals for the upcoming season and here's what he said my biggest individual goal is just getting back to playing my style of football it's crazy how you get T you get injured you come back and you really shouldn't have even been playing and people judge you by a product on the field I could have easily sat out all season but I couldn't do that to my teammates I felt like being later in my career I didn't want to sacrifice any of my years but at the same time I shouldn't have been out there when you hear that Ryan tbit what do you think I I want to be careful man because is this a reflection of a player that says I wasn't the the guy that I know I can be out there on the field last season or is this him kind of saying that you know I kind of just sucked it up and play the year because if it's the ladder he cost this team in my opinion with his snaps on the field I'm not saying that the bills had someone uh that was you know left off this roster that necessarily would have come in and been a four five six sack player but he took snaps away from guys that were either on this roster or maybe would have been elevated from the practice squad had he been put on the IR had he been put on ice last season let's face it he did abs absolutely nothing for this bill's team last year three total tackles in 12 games uh his pass rushes toward the end of the season we saw a few flashes of the old Von Miller but he was pretty much a non-factor every time that he was on the field every time that he was brought in on a pass rush situation he was phased out one-on-one he never got close to the quarterback more times than not so if this is a reflection of a guy saying looking back at it I had no business being out there fine I agree with you completely you are being a team player if this is the other though where he's kind of questioning the the thought process after he said himself he was good to go good to play thought he could have played week one against the Jets then I take some issue with it yeah there's so much going on here because if you go back to last season Brandon Bean said one of the things that they were dealing with was trying to keep him off the field so it almost was like V was pushing the envelope to try to get back on the field while the bills were trying to slow play it a little bit and then it got to the point where reading between the lines it's almost like they couldn't keep him off the field and then he and he basically admitted that as much in that quote when he said um I felt like being later in my career I didn't want to sa sacrifice any of my years and it's funny how listen I'm not taking a run at Von here necessarily but like you can't have two truths you can't say you're doing it with for your teammates and and in the same time say you didn't want to sacrifice one of your final years of your career which one is it is it about you or is it about the team and it felt like more about you because of what you what what you said there uh and kind of laid out they're in a spot where the bills need him to be any semblance of the player that he was in 2022 they just they didn't have the means to go out and add any other players at the position to kind of supplement the losses that they're going to experience off of last year's team I mean Leonard Floyd while his production kind of dipped towards the end of the season he was still a very important piece to what they did and was important when Von Miller was kind of working his way back and even after he was back and not maybe producing at the same high enough level it feels like in a lot of ways the bills are banking on Von Miller um being that version of the player close to it is that a a Bad Bet if you're Brandon Bean It's Not a Bad Bet because of where the bills are financially it's a bet that just needs to be made you're you're depending on let's say Von Miller to get five sacks which I think is realistic I think after a year removed from this injury um he had eight in his first year in Buffalo I think five is attainable for him I know you've lost you lost 10 with Leonard Floyd but you expect AJ Essa who was having a career year before the rib injury against the Chiefs in the regular season to hopefully stay healthy and build off of that Greg rouso to stay healthy and build off of that maybe it's another year of Kingsley Jonathan maybe it's one of their draft picks maybe it's just someone that's not even on our radar right now but between all of those players they're hoping that they can make up that ground of you know the 10 sacks and it might just maybe it won't be a sack maybe it'll be a pressure or maybe it be a hit that leads to an interception there's other ways to kind of create those impact plays overall losing Floyd hurts but the bills weren't necessarily in a financial spot to go out in free agency and address that now where they are now at least according to the last uh salary cap records from the nflpa the bills were still at around $1 million if I remember correctly maybe they go out and they sign an Emanuel agba to a very Team friendly uh one-year deal maybe there's someone else out there that they think fits that scheme and that can make up a few of the sacks as well it going back to your original question I just feel like there wasn't much Brandon Bean could do he was kind of his hands were tied because of where the bills were eating the dead cat from the Stefan Diggs deal trying to reset for 2025 and Beyond while still Fielding a competitive team in 20124 yeah I I agree with you that this was the only play the only problem is this is the second highest cap hit on the Bills roster right now with Von Miller being coming in at $5 million um on the cap Josh Allen is uh the top cap hit uh which is let me see I just headed up here here 3.35 million then it's Matt Milano Dion Dawkins and Ed Oliver and Taran Johnson so four of the of the top six cap hits on this team are are hits on the defensive side of the ball and the number one is is Von Miller and I think it's a good bet from the perspective of guys coming off of this specific injury take the age out of it because I it's certainly a concern right like battling back from this injury at 35 years old is different than doing it in your 20s but coming off this injury two years removed that gives you the best chance to see the version of the player that maybe they were before the injury or if they can get back to that this is a highlevel athlete this is a guy that just based on his knowledge of the game should be more effective than he was a year ago but so I I push back a little bit and just that I don't think the expectation should be five sacks I think the expectations should be 10 sacks and I think he's got to find a way to be that because I just don't know that we've seen enough from AJ fanessa to all of a sudden say he's going to be a 10 plus sack guy and Greg rouso who at times has looked really good his problem is being able to stay healthy and then after that there's absolutely no proven production on this team and I can't even put Dwayne Smoot into that category because he's a six sack sack a season guy before the injury where he had what did he have like one and a half to to three last year I don't I don't remember the exact number I'm not putting him in a spot where he's going to be a regular contributor for this Edge rushing unit yeah and red white and bills saying being tied his own hands I get that in a way he did he thought that Von Miller was the missing piece of this team the the player that would put them over the top Now Matt you know for for 10 sacks I think the last time that Von Miller had a double- digit sack season was 2018 I could be wrong on that um but I I believe that was the last time he's even reached double digits he looked like he was on his way to be fair to him in his first season with Buffalo when he had uh eight sacks early on in that year but I I don't know I mean father time is undefeated and I think he looked a lot better in the spring he was winning a lot mind you non-padded situations but the brace is off he looks more confident you're seeing more of those videos where you you see some of that speed and burst and things of that nature I'm just not sure we'll ever see Von Miller back at a double digit sack season and maybe eat crow on that um again I I don't know if I'm even predicting that here Ryan what more what I'm more saying is I feel like the team needs that from him right like and maybe that's setting him up to faou in a way because but let me read the rest of this quote and and maybe that's where I'm kind of going with this I feel like people are judging me on that so it's making me a little bit angry to be honest it's making me tap into a v that I haven't been in a while I just want to get back to playing my style of football get back to talking um blank making sacks dancing and making plays for my teammates that's been my whole mindset this off season so okay you want to get back to being the whole the old you you're obviously motivated you heard the noise I mean you go out and you play as many snaps as he did last year 400 or whatever it was um it was 300 um and you don't get a single sack that's a motivated Von Miller so I think setting this setting the expectation at 10 sacks for a guy a couple years removed from that Rams run where he had n and a half combined regular season between Denver and la and then four on that run in the playoffs uh in four games I don't think it's too much to ask in a 17 Game season that the guy that you're paying that's counting against your C $5 million can get you 10 sacks yeah and that's fair and and maybe the bills are smart in terms of how they use him put him on a pitch count put him out there on the obvious password situations keep him fresh because of his age because of the you know now being two years removed from the injury uh let Von Miller be the guy that can get after the quarterback in those musthave moments and if you can keep him like I said Limited in terms of the the snaps and the Reps maybe that benefits him maybe it benefits the team down the stretch and into the postseason uh and you can depend on epinesa and Russo to maybe be your top pairing and give Javon Solomon uh some valuable reps as well in certain situations keep bringing these young guys along that you have from Russo down and you know maybe good things will happen there so it's a possibility it's going to be interesting to see how the bills manage him in 2024 you mentioned Javon Solomon and I think that's like a really important side conversation that we're going to have as we lead up into training camp and especially in training camp what are our like legitimate expectations when it comes to him making a run at a roster spot I mean this is a guy at Troy I got his um Sports reference page pulled up here 2023 18 tackles for a loss 56 total 16 sacks uh had four and a half sacks uh the year prior in the same amount of game so a little bit of a Down year but 11 sacks 17 tackles for a loss um in 2021 this is a guy that had two premier years of production but how quickly can he pick things up and then how confident are we that if he even makes the roster that the bills will find a way to get him into a legitimate role they've never done that even rouso who I think is the best example of a guy they've drafted and gotten into a significant role because if you remember at Oliver's rookie year we were kind of sitting on our hands waiting for like when is he gonna get the kind of role that everybody envisioned for them when they took him ninth overall even if Solomon makes the team can he be counted on so Solomon if he doesn't make the team that'd be a major disappointment in my opinion I know where he was drafted I'll start there in terms of a regular role I think it'll be tough early on I mean there's only so many game day J jerseys that you can give out where else can he contribute can he help on special teams uh can he do something there to earn a roster spot if so great but I I think it will take some time for him to actually get into that defensive end rotation uh for the bills because of where he was drafted you know it's a lot different than a Greg rouso that they took with a first round pick uh even an AJ app panessa they took with a second round pick this will probably be something where we're looking at Midway point of the Season before maybe that opportunity arises in terms of you know game day Jersey getting a few reps here and there and having to make the most of those opportunities so and mind you health plays a role in that well as well if there's an injury elsewhere then that could get escalated earlier in the season more opportunities will come his way uh but you know first part of the question I think that making the roster is something that it be a big let down if he didn't but then the opportunity I agree with you is going to be tough to come by uh we had a question here that you had noted in the comments from Brandon over on YouTube you guys were at Camp every day was the energy around the team any different without Stefon Diggs say what you will uh about the guy but he brought a lot of juice just wondering how the mood was go bills so I mean I was there every day and I think this is something that we talked about uh a few times over the last month uh of the show is that there was a Rejuvenation of sorts around the team that's kind of what I felt walking in there watching people interact like the newness of the team because there's so many new faces not only like players but coaches as well I think that that gets like a level of energy to see okay over the last two years the bills have accomplished what they have being Super Bowl contenders now it's almost like you reshuffle the deck a little bit and this isn't the same team with the same expectations it's like it's a new version and I think you can get excited about what that version could potentially accomplish that those previous two haven't been able to do and you not that it Ma Hollands has be kind of become that vocal guy in the wide receiver room specifically very very loud very brings a lot of energy to the room um someone that has a lot of experience under his belt and obviously in terms of player comparisons he's not going to be a Stefan Diggs typ caliber player for this team but from a leadership perspective in terms of an energy guy uh he was definitely bringing that over the spring and I'm sure we'll see that over the summer as well at training camp and you know I don't remember the exact quote from Brandon Bean but he did say something this offseason about how change can be good and you're you're moving some of these guys that have all dealt with the same heartbreak of the 13 seconds and of these you know great runs in the regular season that have fallen short in the postseason and now you're bringing guys in that maybe have had success elsewhere like an mvs winning a Super Bowl as a you know a contributor on that team or you're just bringing in guys that have a whole new perspective and are just happy to be on a winning team and want to help this team get over the hump um so it is interesting to kind of change that up you're not just staying with that same roster that has dealt with that adversity and that happens in time just with players leaving in free agency players retiring injuries Etc um I W to do a quick shout out to The Insider text line who have been rocking with us all summer long Ryan you got a quick shout out here before I get into our uh advertisement yeah uh shout out to thees Tao from Juno Alaska she actually said in The Insider text line that there are a lot of bills fans in Alaska and it should be a spot that uh you and I consider visiting sometime I don't know if we can get the company on board with a live shout from Alaska but I'm always open to that and shout out to our friend Linda West here in the comments as well for the Super Chat always also very active on our Insider chat line yeah and Linda uh it was awesome to see you at our recent live show uh at Wing nuts uh we're at Wing nuts every single month and we got a chance to see you recently which was super awesome thank you for all your support over the years a regular in the YouTube comments uh as well uh The Insider text line you can join it right now and get yourself all set up for training camp in a couple of weeks maybe you want to wait a little while maybe you want to join right before the start of training camp so you can get those two weeks for free before we lock things in for the season 3.99 a month after the two-e free trial um if you're really uh feeling froggy and you want to get a little bit aggressive and and sign up right now send me a DM or an email at EMP Perino nyup.com I'll give you your first month for free uh for doing that the shout text line is brought to you by Carrie C buer attorney with the law offices of Francis M lro located at 237 Main Street in Buffalo New York if you were someone you know is seriously injured give him a call 716 85212 34 or check out lola.com Ryan do you have the number that people can use to to text to join the inside oh you're putting me on the spot here I don't have it in front of me right now and 716 528 6727 or head over to joins sub tex.com shout Buffalo Bills I put him on the spot he's gonna get it one of these times you know one of these times you're going to come in you're going to make a a run down the stage with a chair in hand come over and hit me right over the head with it and you're going to you're going to read the read the number right out loud in the middle of the show that's right I will get it one of these times for sure all right I want to read this uh last part of the Von Miller quote and we'll put a bow um on this conversation we will likely be back on Wednesday night um I got to uh figure that all out we're working on a a booking a couple guests here over the next couple of weeks as well uh so stay tuned for all of that if you're watching on YouTube the the best way to follow our schedule is to follow on YouTube uh subscribe uh like every video that really helps as well and then when we put up a a show you'll get a notification uh on your phone the biggest team goal Von Miller said this to Sports Illustrated is bringing the first Super Bowl to Buffalo everyone feels like they deserve it and they work hard but Buffalo Bills fans in Western New York uh they deserve it man they do so much for our community and our football team Josh Allen is an amazing player and in person he's one of the most amazing people I've ever been around in my life these guys deserve it and I'm going to do everything in my power to give it to them thoughts I mean he he's right about the fan base he's right about this community he's spoton this fan base endured four straight losses in the early 90s uh some younger fans that maybe weren't around for that went through quite a playoff drought a lot of bad teams very similar to what Buffalo fans are experiencing now with the Sabers on the on the hockey side of things and as great as this team has been they still have not been able to get to the big game just quite yet and if that ever were to happen I can only imagine what it would be like in Western New York and uh they would have to shut down buffalo probably for a solid week week and a half just because of all the partying and the parade and everything else that goes with it it's crazy to pull up last year's Pro Football Focus document on the bills defense right because you bring up the pass rush grades from last year dayquon Jones number one 80.9 Terrell Bernard 79.5 Ed Oliver 77.3 Taylor R in his role at 77.1 I wonder how much the bills are planning to utilize him likely in a starting safety role but obviously maybe more in that Jordan puyer ilk and somebody that can they can deploy a little bit you got a couple linebackers in here you got a couple cornerbacks in here you got to go all the way down Ryan to number 35 on the list for the bills to find Von Miller who who came in at 52.7 with 17 total pressures in let me see pass rush snaps 223 so I think to me that's like the biggest question of all that we can kind of end on here is like is this possible is this is what we saw down the stretch and him finishing his last game with two pressures two Hur a 90.5 defensive grade a 73.9 pass rushing grade which was by far His Highest of the season do we take him at his word and that he felt like he was trending up he felt like he was trying to find something at the end of the season and that's the version of the player that we're getting from the start this year and then a side a side part of that is like are you confident that Von Miller at at ag35 can make it through an entire season healthy so first and foremost there's nowhere to go but up based on what he did last season and I think that the pressures is where we need to kind of keep an eye on Von Miller this season it might not always translate to Sachs but again if it leads to A hurried pass that goes incomplete on third down and gets the bills off the field great if it leads to a QB hit and an interception or fumble that's you know just as valuable obviously if it's the fumble it would count as a sack as well um so you know things of that nature can be okay counting on him though at age you know 35 like you said to last the entire season I have my questions that goes back to what I said earlier in the show how are the Bills going to manage him if they're gonna throw him out there on the field for significant reps week in and week out I think that the odds are lower and lower with each passing week for him to last the entire year if they're smart if they start him out on a pitch count get him out there in uh those key moments and let him see what he can do then yeah I think he can last there's you know load management whatever you want to call this over the course of a season the bills need to be smart about that in the practice setting in a regular season setting you want him to have that game day Jersey every week but you don't want him out there playing a a high snap count where again the bills are generally very good in terms of rotating their defensive ends defensive tackles uh you want to see that in them being extra careful with Von Miller at this point in his career if they if the bills go through the entire summer and they don't add somebody and they break they basically bring four or five Edge rushers off of what they have on the roster right now to to the to the regular season I'm Wonder wondering how what V's role is going to look like to start now the bills have to come out strong I mean they they start with the Cardinals and they go on that murderer row uh you know early in the season to try to like you know it's game after game after game to try to start fast so I think having Von Miller in that spot is huge especially against really good quarterbacks but I'm wondering if like if to your point if they keep them on a little bit of a pitch count if that can't be by Design if they want to get a longer look at like a Kingsley Jonathan in that fourth role at if it ends up being Javon Solomon um if if it's if it's Dwayne smoo you kind of know what you have there I'm just not excited about Dwayne smoo can I can I say that like I'm sorry like you can I I watched him and and maybe my my my um my thoughts will change here as we get to uh training camp and the pads come on and he's able to kind of Asser himself a little bit more I'm super excited about what they have working on the inside but on the edge this is going to continue to be my number one um alarm Emoji here over the next couple of weeks and I think that's fair I mean when you look at other positions you might have some depth issues you might wonder how the offense is going to function without a cheer number one receiver those are fair questions Fair points but in terms of the overall top to bottom you do have question marks at defensive end and Ed rusher and you know the one thing I'll say is a lot of quarterbacks that the bills have on this schedule a lot of quarterbacks in this league they get the ball out quickly so if they can find other ways to affect the quarterback give their hands up bat passes um that'll be another way for this unit to win on game days because a lot of quarterbacks don't hold the ball long enough for Edge rushers to continually have that type of an impact especially with the kind that the Bills currently have on their roster uh what do you got what did you do over the weekend by the way were you in town you didn't even oh yeah yeah yeah no laser Tron invite I was a little bitter about that you know oh that's fair actually that's fair I could have seen tet really mixing it up with the nine-year-olds though like really you know going for uh now do you know how to play laser johon oh I've I played some L shout out to uh passions nightclub in Franklinville New York growing up they had like this area that you would play Lasertron billiard tables all these other things for like teenagers on the weekends loved me a good game a laser Tron you got to go for the uh you got to go for the bases like you don't got to waste time shooting the players apparently it's not that's not I didn't get the memo oh see when I it was the hitting the the the vest on the chest growing up oh yeah you can NAB a couple people but you only got 75 shots so as you're going by the the people you could shoot them but you really want to save those the Big Money Maker is hitting the base so you got run across and hit the base yeah passed me by maybe what's that maybe the game has passed me by me and you both me and you both um so what were you doing in town though um um we went to the Flying Bison Brewery checked that out they had uh Pixie Mama rescue a lot of dogs there we just wanted to check that scene out a little bit and uh then we were just kind of out and about a little bit and just enjoying a weekend away or a day away we usually go on vacation we went to Georgia last year and then to Arizona we're we're staying local we're getting a lot of projects done I told you pre-show we're putting up a a new outdoor shed and uh little things like that and fixing up things around the house so staying local so when we get those little getaways we're going to take advantage of it very nice I also forgot to mention we will be it it is um is the one event that we're going to be at in July is that public knowledge yet or are we kind of keeping that on the DL for now still oh it hasn't been officially announced yet let's keep that on the DL okay yeah yeah we'll keep that on the DL but real quick Scott Fraser happy Canada day I saw it in the comments yes nice very nice yeah happy Canada Day to you Scott uh stay tuned uh maybe on our next show uh or early next week we will drop where we be but put this date on your calendar 7:20 July 20th all right put it on your calendar for the shout guys looking forward to it have a good day everybody enjoy the rest of your week enjoy this beautiful weather take care everybody