Von Miller has changed his mind. Now he says he won't play the 2016 season unless he has a long-term deal.
Miller took to his social media accounts to try to exert what leverage he has in contract negotiations with the Denver Broncos.
The Super Bowl MVP on Thursday morning posted on his Instagram and Twitter accounts that there is “no chance” he plays the 2016 season under the franchise tag the team placed on him in March.
That would leave Miller with two options: Work out a new long-term deal with the Broncos by July 15, or sit out the 2016 season.
“I love my Teammates, Coaches and my Fans, but there is ‘no chance’ I play the 2016 season under the Franchise tag,” Miller wrote Thursday, under a picture of himself looking a fumble he forced during Super Bowl 50 in February.
Contract talks between Miller’s camp and the Broncos broke off last week over after the two sides had agreed on the basic framework of a six-year deal worth $114.5 million. That deal would make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL, but it didn’t contain the amount of guaranteed money within the first three years of the deal to match other top defensive players like Miami’s Ndamukong Suh, Buffalo’s Marcell Dareus or Philadelphia’s Fletcher Cox, who signed a new deal earlier this week to remain with the Eagles.
Miller skipped the entirety of the Broncos’ offseason program in protest of receiving the tag. That move is not uncommon, but sitting out the season would be.
Just two days ago he told comedian Chelsea Handler, while taping a segment for her Netflix show, asked Miller directly if there is any chance he would sit out during the upcoming season.
“No,” Miller said. “I mean, I feel we still have a month. I can’t see myself with any other team.”
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones
