ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos coach Vic Fangio wouldn’t officially say linebacker Von Miller‘s season is over, but he said Wednesday that Miller will “soon” have surgery to repair an ankle tendon and that it’s important the team figure out how to play without its most decorated player for an extended period of time.
“There’s a chance of that,” Fangio said of Miller missing the remainder of the season. “It’s too early to say for sure, [but] he’s definitely out for a while.”
And when asked if Miller would be moved to injured reserve this week, Fangio said, “I don’t know that yet. He’ll be on IR at some point.”
Miller suffered the injury on the last play of Tuesday’s practice, which Fangio described as “just a normal play.” Miller was taken for an MRI on Tuesday afternoon and is scheduled to seek another opinion from Dr. Robert Anderson in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Thursday. Other surgeons were expected to consult with Miller after viewing the MRI results as well.
Fangio said “four or five” doctors would be giving Miller an opinion.
Fangio wouldn’t say how much time Miller will miss, but the recovery time on a surgery to repair an injury to and around the peroneal tendon can often be four to six months with a best-case scenario of three months. The Broncos will open the season Monday night against the Tennessee Titans.
“It’s the whole team that has to fill the void,” Fangio said. “It’s not [the] player that ends up playing for him, it’s not the defense, it’s not the offense, it’s not the special teams. It’s everybody.”
At the moment, the Broncos will look to Malik Reed, who made the roster as an undrafted rookie last season, and veteran Jeremiah Attaochu to share the snaps at Miller’s outside linebacker spot. Complicating matters is that Bradley Chubb, who is coming back from last year’s ACL surgery, will likely be limited in his snaps played, at least early in the season.
Chubb was held out of the last week of training camp practices, but did practice on a limited basis Tuesday and Wednesday. Fangio said Wednesday he has already talked to Chubb about not pressing too hard to come back because he feels pressure to fill in for Miller.
“I told him that [Wednesday] already,” Fangio said. ” … We’ve had good conversations since camp started.”
Miller has been one of the Broncos’ most durable players throughout his career, rarely even missing practice unless he has been held out for rest. Overall, he missed just one game — Dec. 1 last season against the Los Angeles Chargers — in the past six seasons.
He had a consecutive game streak of 95 games — 5,251 consecutive defensive snaps — when he missed the game against the Chargers with a knee injury.
Miller had missed the 2013 regular-season finale when he tore his ACL in the team’s Week 16 win over the Houston Texans. He had also missed the first six games of that season with a suspension.
The eight-time Pro Bowl selection has been poised for a big year, having started his workouts for the 2020 season just days after the 2019 season ended. Miller has repeatedly said what a disappointment 2019 had been for him and the team as he finished with eight sacks — his first season with fewer than 10 since 2013.
Miller had COVID-19 in April and was one of the first NFL players to publicly disclose he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Source : ESPN
