Von Miller Contract Will Prove a Bargain for Broncos Despite Eye-Opening Numbers

During their Super Bowl run last season, the Broncos faced three of the best quarterbacks in football: Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady and Cam Newton.

Roethlisberger will go into the Hall of Fame. Brady is so good he might get two busts there. Newton was perhaps the hottest quarterback in football going into Super Bowl 50.

Each one of those greats lost. Each one of them wasn't even the best player on the field. It wasn't Peyton Manning either. No, the best player on the field, every game, was Von Miller.

Not just statistically. Or in terms of sacks and pressures. Miller was tops in every way you measure the dominance of an NFL player. I covered each of those games, and in every one, offenses shifted massive resources to slow Miller, and he still dominated. He saw double-teams and even a handful of triple-teams. Nothing mattered. Miller was a sleek battering ram, and what he did will go down in NFL history as one of the best runs any player has ever had in the postseason.

That means anyone: quarterback, running back, starship commander. Anyone. That's how good he was.

It would be childish to say Miller won those games by himself, but if there were such an ability on a football field, it would look like what he did.

A source close to Miller on Friday told B/R what has been widely reported: Miller's new six-year deal with the Broncos is for $114.5 million with approximately $70 million of that money guaranteed. ESPN reported that $70 million is the second-richest guarantee in league history.

And you know what? The Broncos got a bargain. The $70 million in guarantees is chump change to an NFL team. For the next few years, the salary cap will keep going up, teams will keep making record profits and the exorbitant contracts players are signing now will seem penny ante.

This is not to say there's no risk. Miller could get injured. A blown knee puts the contract in a different light.

Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

There's also the fact that off the field, Miller has, well, an interesting side. There was the incident when he and a collector, according to ESPN, collaborated to cheat a drug test. He violated the league's substance-abuse policy, leading to a four-game suspension that was increased to six games after the NFL discovered the tomfoolery.

Also, I've been told by a player with knowledge of the situation that Miller's behavior on team flights after some games has been a little wild. The player said Miller could at times get "out of control." He wouldn't give examples.

Miller is a bit of a risk. But he's also still a bargain.

In the modern NFL, when everything is about offense, there are perhaps only a half-dozen players who can turn that philosophy on its head, and leading that pack is Miller. As teams and fans rightfully have focused on franchise quarterbacks, sometimes we forget there are also franchise defensive players. Miller is one of them. He might be the only one of them.

True, Miller might have a crazy side, but the Broncos don't believe he will get all that cash and then lose the impetus that made him great. In fact, people who know him tell me the money will only make him hungrier.

During the negotiations, Miller was portrayed by some as being more interested in beating the Broncos' front office than in making a deal, especially after the $70 million in guarantees was leaked. But that's not accurate. Miller just understood his value more than many in the media, and almost every fan, ever will. He deserves credit for knowing his value and for holding off on signing a deal until he got close to that value. Negotiations between the two sides, I'm told, as others in the media have been, got slightly contentious. Both sides wanted the best deal they could make. Both sides played hardball. Nothing wrong with that.

Maybe the dealing wasn't pretty, but it was necessary. This is a Broncos team whose quarterback this season will be Mark Sanchez. Imagine John Elway watching Sanchez play. The only quarterback who might make Elway throw up in his mouth more is Tim Tebow. (Hold on...wait a second...Sanchez just threw another pick.)

As he did during that historic playoff run last year, Miller will be called on again to save not just the defense, but also the team. And he is so good, he can probably do it.

So yes, the Broncos got a steal. Seventy mil? Chump change to pay for one of the best defensive players of his generation.

He's probably worth double that.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @mikefreemanNFL.