For the second straight season, the Buffalo Bills' hopes of capturing their first Lombardi Trophy were squashed inside Arrowhead Stadium against the feared Kansas City Chiefs. And in order to ensure that disappointment doesn't return again next season, the team bolstered its top-ranked defense on Wednesday by signing a talented free agent pass rusher -- and at a historic price.
In a move that stunned the football world, Buffalo and veteran linebacker Von Miller have agreed to terms on a mammoth six-year, $120 million contract that includes $51.5 million guaranteed. At 34, he's the first defensive player in NFL history to sign two contracts worth $100-plus million. Miller recently won the Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams, and he'll now look to fulfill the same goal with the championship-starved Bills.
"Edge rusher was probably the one area on this team that you looked at and said, 'They don't have a game-changer there,'" Bills reporter Jay Skurski told the JR SportBrief show on Wednesday. "There's a lot of legitimate hope that guy could be Von Miller. He's a future Hall of Famer. He plays his best when the lights are brightest -- we saw that in the playoffs this year for the Rams.
"What he brings, in terms of a pass rush, is huge. But what he brings in terms of leadership, knowing what it takes to get over that hump and close the deal in the form of a championship, it can be huge for the franchise... He can have a trickle-down effect on the rest of the defensive line. Start with Ed Oliver and Greg Rousseau. If those two guys can have a little bit of pressure taken off of them because of Miller, it can be very big for their development and careers."
Miller, who was traded mid-season to the Rams after spending a decade with the Denver Broncos, recorded 9.5 sacks in 2021, and leads all active players with 115.5 sacks in his career. The eight-time Pro Bowler also recorded a total of 41 pressures last year -- which would've been the most on Buffalo's unit -- and contributed 17 quarterback hits, 33 solo tackles, and 19 tackles for loss.
The entire Bills conversation between Skurski and JR can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the JR SportBrief show on Twitter @JRSportBrief and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.