Denver Broncos: 10 biggest mistakes in the George Paton era

3. Trading Von Miller

I get why George Paton traded Von Miller, but he did suck talent from the team's pass rush when he did this, and Denver's ability to get to the quarterback has noticeably declined since Miller was shipped to the Los Angeles Rams back in 2021.

Miller did help propel the Rams to a Super Bowl victory back in 2021, and Miller was still very productive. In 2021 between the Broncos and Rams, Miller had 9.5 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, and 17 QB hits.

In 2022, he signed with the Buffalo Bills, and it honestly made a ton of sense for the Broncos to sign Miller because they clearly needed a pass rush boost. They went for Randy Gregory instead, which has not gone that well. Miller played in 11 games for the Bills in 2022 before tearing his ACL. In those 11 games, he had a whopping eight sacks, 19 tackles for loss, and 12 QB hits.

Von Miller would have surely finished with yet another double-digit sack season had he not gotten injured, and I don't doubt that he bounces right back to his old self when he returns from his injury. Anytime Von Miller has talked about the Broncos since leaving, he still addresses the team as "we."

What is extra sucky is that Miller probably would have loved to return to Denver for the 2022 season. He would have been a better addition than Gregory at least. While I don't fault Paton for making the move, I do think it was a huge mistake in the grand scheme.