Broncos Sign Von Miller For $70 Million Guaranteed

If you go by the total numbers, the contract Von Miller just signed with the Denver Broncos—six years for $114.5 million—is exactly the same as the one he turned down a month ago. But as we all know, the only number that matters in NFL contracts is the guaranteed dollars.

In June, the contract the Broncos offered Miller reportedly came with just $40 million guaranteed in the first two years of the deal. Miller wanted more money up front, though, and that’s exactly what he ended up getting. From ESPN:

Miller gets a $23 million signing bonus and $42 million guaranteed at signing, $61 million guaranteed after the second year and $70 million guaranteed after the third year of the deal, the sources said. Those totals pushed Miller past the guaranteed money Fletcher Cox received in his contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in recent weeks. Cox got more than $36 million at signing, $55 million in the first nine months and $63 million guaranteed by the deal’s third year.

It’s unlikely the Broncos will ever pay Miller $114.5 million, which means the first contract the Broncos put on the table was essentially a two-year deal that would pay him $19.9 million per year. Now he’s worked himself into a three-year deal that will pay out $23.3 million per year, and that puts him behind only Andrew Luck in terms of guaranteed earnings.

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