Former Rams Super Bowl experiment trying to rebound his career once more

From the heroics of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to the un-retirement of defensive back Eric Weddle, the Los Angeles Rams turned their 2021 NFL season into a Hollywood script by beating all the odds and winning Super Bowl LVI. The team restocked the roster throughout that year to end up competing in the NFL Playoffs with a group of players that only slightly resembled the players who had competed in training camp.

The team was powered by the pass rush of OLB Leonard Floyd and DT Aaron Donald, until the team managed to pry underperforming outside linebacker Von Miller from the Denver Broncos. When that happened, the team seemed to swap roles, putting Floyd in coverage and Miller in the role that he loves best: Chasing down opposing quarterbacks.

The Rams were thrilled after their Super Bowl victory, and chants of "Run it back!" still echo in memory from the postgame celebration. But Miller never returned, investing just eight regular-season games and four postseason games into the team that would earn him his second and final Super Bowl ring.

Von Miller doesn't run it back

It wasn't that the Rams did not make a fine offer to extend Miller. It was simply that he wanted to play for the Buffalo Bills, and kept the Rams dangling so long with false hopes that the team lost any chance of signing a suitable Plan B pass rusher. You could point to the injury epidemic that befell the team that season, leading to a dismal 5-12 season. But I point to Miller's election to keep the Rams on hold for so long, only to say toodle-oo and head off to Buffalo to play for the Bills as the first fall of the team that led to that disastrous year.

The Rams had to scramble and spent all the money stockpiled for Miller on ILB Bobby Wagner and WR Allen Robinson. Not only did the team falter, but the debacle forced the team to take up a brand new strategy, starting with shedding all highly-compensated players save DT Aaron Donald, WR Cooper Kupp, and QB Matthew Stafford.

Miller chose the Buffalo Bills due to the guaranteed money they offered. But Von Miller was injured in 2022, which forced the Bills to get Miller back to the bargaining table. After all the smoke cleared, Von Miller had competed three seasons for the Bills, played 36 games with 11 starts, and had been paid just over $47 million. In contrast, the Rams only paid him $722,222. In his three seasons with the Bills, Miller recorded 41 tackles, 14.0 quarterback sacks, 17 tackles for a loss, and deflected two passes. On the economics of his contract, he earned nearly $1.15 million per tackle.

Von Miller tries to rebound his career

Von Miller is no longer the same durable edge rusher who was the star of the Denver Broncos' defense. He was an afterthought for the Buffalo Bills, suiting up for just 987 defensive snaps over three seasons. Worse yet, he only played 279 defensive snaps for the Bills in 2024, a year after he was medically cleared after his serious ACL injury in 2022.

What intrigues me about Von Miller's free agency status is that he was never linked to the LA Rams. Not only was the silence from NFL analysts interesting, but the silence from Rams fans was downright deafening. After all, he was beloved when he helped the team win its first Lombardi Trophy for the city of Los Angeles, California. But it seems that he burned that bridge years ago. And now, a former Rams Super Bowl experiment is trying to rebound his career once more

And he will try to do so with the Washington Commanders on a one-year prove-it deal:

It could work out for the player and the team. The Commanders need a veteran to fill in for Dante Fowler Jr, and Von Miller could supply some level of pass rush to help out. But Fowler suited up for more than double Miller's snap count in 2024. That suggests that the Commanders will need to platoon Miller with other edge rushers to make it work.

Since losing out on Von Miller and subsequently losing an opportunity to pry edge rusher Brian Burns from the Carolina Panthers, the Rams have focused on restocking the pass rush with elite young talent. How well have the Rams done? Von Miller was a free agent in 2025, and I saw no indication that any NFL analyst or Rams fans viewed him as a viable option to rejoin the team.

And that says it all. As always, thanks for reading.