Clayton: The Miller trade shows the Broncos are thinking about 2022
Nov 1, 2021, 4:09 PM
Even though the Broncos pulled off a strange, sloppy victory over the Washington Football Team Sunday, they defined the rest of their season on Monday.
The Broncos became major sellers in the trade market, which concludes Tuesday. They sent linebacker Von Miller to the Los Angeles Rams for second- and third-round choices next year. They also paid $9 million of his $9.7 million salary.
In other words, the Broncos are thinking more next year than this year. That puts Vic Fangio on one of hottest seats in the league. They will probably be a team sale after the season.
For general manager George Paton, it was probably an offer he couldn’t refuse. Next year’s draft is rich with talent. It includes college players who have played their entire college season. It includes more talent because of the college seniors who stayed in school for the second college season. Sure, the picks will be toward the bottom of the rounds because of the success of the Rams.
Miller is an eight-time Pro Bowler who has a decent chance to go to the Hall of Fame. What’s the killer for Fangio and Broncos fans is that it happens at the thinnest linebacker corps in football. Even though Bradley Chubb is getting closer to come back from the injured reserve list, the current linebacker corps is missing all four of its starters. Three are on the injured reserve list and now Miller is in Los Angles.
I thought this could have been a wild-card playoff team for this team coming into the season. It had a talented defense and the best secondary in the league. Unfortunately for them, Kyler Fuller didn’t work out at cornerback. The sad part too is getting much chance in the past three years of seeing Miller and Chubb on the field rushing the quarterback.
The Broncos are now 4-4. Their closing schedule isn’t that bad at .500, but it’s going to be tough for the defense to do well with all the problems at linebacker.
Fangio has done a good job with the defense. They are only giving up 17.1 points a game. But it doesn’t look like a team that is going to go to the playoffs after the Miller trade.
