Vic Fangio "not optimistic" Von Miller will play this year

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Von Miller’s season appeared over before it even began.

Six days before the Denver Broncos kicked off their 2020 season, Denver’s highest-paid player dislocated his peroneal tendon in practice and had to have surgery.

Staring down a five-to-six month rehab process, Miller’s chances of playing a single snap in 2020 didn’t seem likely. But there was a sliver of hope. The best-case timeframe for the injury Miller sustained was a three-month recovery.

Hitting that best-case mark would have put Miller back on the field for Denver’s Week 14 game against the Carolina Panthers. No. 58 didn’t partake in the game. Von also wasn’t on the field for Saturday’s 48-19 blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills.

And hope that was still alive for Von playing this season continued to fade away on Monday, two days after the Broncos were officially eliminated from the playoffs.

“Right now, I’m not optimistic that he’ll be out there,” Vic Fangio stated on Monday when asked if the franchise’s sack leader will play in the final two games. “He’s going to have to practice a little bit before we would put him out there and he hasn’t partaken in practice yet, so.”

On Oct. 28, Miller “surprised” Fangio in his rehab by being on the practice field without a walking boot a week earlier than expected. On Nov. 23, Fangio stated Von was “progressing well.” Monday, however, had a different tone with only two games left, no practices under Miller’s belt and the Broncos officially eliminated from the playoffs.

Fangio hasn’t been told yet if Miller will be able to practice this week, but he expects to find out shortly.

“I’ll get with the medical people later today or tomorrow and see exactly where they are at with him,” Fangio stated.

In an interview with 104.3 The Fan on Oct. 7, Miller made clear he would return and play this season if he was medically cleared, regardless of the Broncos’ record.

Over the past two weeks, Miller has attended many of the team’s practices but has only been a spectator. Leading up to Saturday’s game, Miller was doing his own conditioning and stretching drills off to the side during practice.

In 2019, the last time Miller was on the field for Denver, he racked up eight sacks on the season—the second-fewest in his career.

During the 2021 season, Miller will be 32 years old and is set to have the team’s biggest cap hit, accounting for over $22 million against the cap. However, unlike this year, Miller only has just over $4 million in dead cap, meaning the Broncos could save $18 million in cap space if they moved on from him after this season.

The sure-fire Ring of Famer and Hall of Famer has 106 career regular-season sacks, which ranks as the 25th most all-time. Fangio isn’t optimistic Von will be able to add to that in 2020.