Von Miller Contract Talks Have Become Personal

Negotiating a new contract can become a very contentious event in any pro athlete’s life; especially when you are the reigning Super Bowl MVP, the best player on a Super Bowl Championship team, and the cornerstone of your franchise. When the team you have spent your entire career with is trying to treat you like you’re a JAG–Just Another Guy–it probably hurts deep down.  For Von Miller, this is the reality of the situation, and he has every right to be upset with the front office, and John Elway for not showing him the love he deserves.  In Von’s case, to him, it’s very personal at this point, and he does not like it one bit.  In a recent si.com article, Von opened up a little bit about his thoughts on the situation:

“It just hurts,” Miller says. “I’m not even going to lie. It’s a business but at the end of the day, I got feelings, too.”

Of course it hurts, Von; it always hurts to not feel as valued as you thought you were.   Von is a very public guy, in the spotlight of just about everything since his all-time great performances in the AFC Championship game and Super

Bowl, a game in which he walked away with a big ‘ol ring, and a trophy that reads “M-V-P”.

Last week after the news leaked about the latest contract offer the Broncos offered, Miller, clearly upset with the disrespectful nature of the guaranteed money offered, cropped Broncos GM John Elway out of a recent photo posted onto Instagram by teammate Demarcus Ware.

Miller also recently went on Chelsea Handler’s new Netflix show, and said “I want to be a Bronco forever.  I just want the feeling to be the same from the Broncos.”  It would seem that Von is not feeling the love the way he would have hoped, as in that same si.com article, he also was talking about wanting to be courted the way he was at Texas A&M.  ”

“You know you got that girlfriend that’s really not like that attractive but she’s like really good for you, and she’s going to do everything she can to keep you?” he says. “Instead of that really, really hot chick that just talks to you on Mondays. It was like that, above and beyond. That’s the same type of feeling I’m looking for from the Broncos.”

Just yesterday, Miller also drew a line in the sand stating that he planned to sit out the season if he doesn’t get shown that love he is looking for.

Things have gotten contentious, there is no doubt about that.  Once Miller realized that the negotiations weren’t going to be as “peaceful” as he thought they would, he began to take things personally.  That’s not an indictment on Miller, that’s a natural human reaction that anyone who feels is undervalued would feel.  However, Von needs to realize that it isn’t personal, this is just how Mr. Elway does business, for better or for worse.

Miller should step away from these negotiations and let his agent Joby Branion handle things from here on out.  While he certainly is hurt, and has every right to be upset about the outlandish nature of the contract offer, which never should have been leaked by the way, he needs to let business take care of itself.

John Elway has consistently said that no one man is above the team.  This is a theme that came up often during Peyton Manning’s tenure with the Broncos, and that theme was that Elway couldn’t just worry about Peyton; he he had 52 other guys to worry about as well and that his concern was, and always would be the Denver Broncos.  The same rings true with Miller, as he is just one of 53 men on a World

Championship team.  This is not to say that Miller should not be the highest paid defensive player in the league, because he absolutely should, and more than likely will.  It is more an advocacy of the way that Elway negotiates.  Elway takes hard-line stances with everyone, and never shows his best hand in the beginning.  This is just something that Miller needs to understand; it is not personal Von.

A little over a year ago, John Elway went to Peyton Manning and asked that he take more than a 50% pay cut.  The sides eventually settled on a $4 million pay cut, $6million less than he had initially asked.  Elway has now come to Miller with an initial offer, and if Miller took it, great work Elway, another home town discount to add to your resume.  But it certainly wasn’t ever going to be the final offer.  Miller should be upset with the offer, and his market value is far higher.  However, this probably doesn’t get personal if the offer isn’t leaked.  That was a mishandled play by Elway if the Broncos were in fact the camp that leaked it.  However, just like the Peyton situation, that is not going to be the final offer, it never was.  It is a mere guarantee that Elway has not shown his best hand, and won’t until we are closer to the July 15th deadline to get a deal done.

Von needs to wait this thing out, and keep his emotions in check, at least publicly.  Nothing good will come from any more social media digs at Elway, he has taken his stance, and it puts the ball firmly back into Elway’s court; time to pay up.

However, this is just the way Elway negotiates with every player, regardless of stature.  Going back a year, while it wasn’t as public of a negotiation, there was absolutely significant doubt that a deal would get done with then-franchised Demaryius Thomas.  There were reports hours from the deadline about it not getting done, and sure enough, at the midnight hour, Elway showed his best hand, and DT got his long term deal.

Why does Elway wait till the last second to get these deals done?  Because Elway wants to get the best deal possible, surrender the least back in negotiations, but there could be some a financial aspect to this as well.  Benjamin Albright shared a very telling theory that really makes a lot of sense form a pure financial standpoint .

Albright did correct himself, as the correct figure would be $50,000 in his example, but in any case this does make an awful lot of sense from a strictly finance standpoint.  .

To elaborate, once a club guarantee’s money into a contract, that full amount must go into an escrow account as it is dispersed to the player over time, and the club would no longer earn interest on that cash in the bank.  The Broncos could more than likely get 2-3% return on that cash, so if they currently have $60-65 million set aside that they plan on giving Von in guaranteed money, in one month they could make $100,000-150,000 on that money interest revenue.  While not a lot to and NFL team, it is still cash, and the Broncos are still a business.

No matter the reason why the Broncos haven’t paid Miller, it would be in his best interest, from here until July 15th to just step away from the negotiation, and let the process play out.  His agent won’t let him take a bad deal, and chances are, the Broncos aren’t looking to give him a bad deal.  This is just the El”WAY” of doing things.  As easy as it is to question the boss, his track record is second to none, and history says he will get the deal done.

With all of that said, Elway, come July 15th, you better show Von Miller the money so the focus can get back to winning another Super Bowl.