Will Broncos Von Miller win DPOY this season?

By: Jordan Anders

The Super Bowl 50 MVP and eight-time pro bowler Von Miller is back and is already making a case for himself for defensive player of the year. Miller saw no real NFL action in over 600 days as he suffered a season-ending foot injury days before last season’s opener. This year, however, he is back and not only ready to make it back to the playoffs but make himself a prime candidate for the Associated Press NFL DPOY award.

Last week, the Denver Broncos opened up their season at MetLife Stadium to face the Giants where Von Miller would get his first start in nearly two years. Right off the bat, Miller looked like his old self with an early quarterback sack on Daniel Jones. With that sack, Von Miller entered the top 25 in NFL history in career sacks, he is currently sitting at #24 with 108.

Von Miller finished his first game back with three quarterback hits, three tackles for loss, and two sacks. These numbers, however, don’t go to show the impact Miller had on the game. With Miller putting pressure on quarterback Daniel Jones, Jones was only able to make one passing touchdown the entire game as well as a 59% completion rate.

Lots of minor details in Miller’s game are being overlooked since his injury last season, Pro Football Focus doesn’t even have Von Miller in their top 10 edge rushers for this season. Let’s not forget, Von Miller missed an entire season and is still the number one ranked active NFL sack leader. That’s not all, Von Miller is also the number one active player with the most seasons recording a 90+ PFF Grade.

Von Miller has been a one-of-a-kind player since he was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2011 and continues to prove he is one of the best edge rushers in the game and one of the top defensive players. His comeback season this year is a solid campaign for him to win Defensive Player of the Year if he keeps doing what he’s doing, that is sacking quarterbacks and putting pressure on their offense.

The only downside is his competition. His competition: 3x DPOY award winner Aaron Donald, defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams. Aaron Donald is one of the best in the game and there’s no arguing that, odds have him as a top favorite for this year’s award and that likely won’t change. Von Miller has his work cut out for him as he is also going against Browns’ edge rusher Myles Garrett, Steelers’ linebacker T.J. Watt, and Washington’s defensive end Chase Young.

Von Miller in terms of the Defensive Player of the year award is very underrated and has been for years. This year he isn’t even in the top 20 for player’s odds of winning the award. Right now, he is being overlooked but as the season goes on it shouldn’t come as a shock when and if the media recognizes Miller as a legitimate DPOY candidate. Expect the fine wine edge player to keep pace with his competition until the end of the last game of the year.