Carolina Panthers: Von Miller to Miss Game 1?
The Carolina Panthers face the Denver Broncos on the first Thursday night of the season. Will Von Miller carry through with his threat to sit until his franchise tag is gone?
The Carolina Panthers’ negotiations with Kawann Short are not the most exciting story of contract disputes in the NFL this off season.
Short’s protests so far have consisted of missing voluntary workouts but then showing up for mini-camp when he might have been fined for missing them. The worst case scenario is that no agreement is reached before next off season and the Panthers are forced to franchise him to begin negotiations for another year.
That long term scenario is not the case for the Panthers’ first regular season opponent, the Denver Broncos. They have already franchised linebacker Von Miller and have been unable so far to reach an agreement on an extension. Miller was the Super Bowl MVP against the Panthers.
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That might not sound very interesting since the franchise tag ties a player to a team, but Miller has decided to take things one step further and has said that he will not play under the tag.
This puts the Broncos in a bind. Financially the tag is the better move for them this year. It makes Miller the 3rd highest paid linebacker in the league instead of the first. The Broncos’ lack of cap room saw them walk away from re-signing some the members of their Super Bowl team. Who knows what Miller’s true number is, but it would probably be like having a second franchise quarterback on the team (which the Broncos don’t have one of right now).
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Before the franchise tag existed, the Dallas Cowboys and Emmitt Smith had a troubled negotiation in the prelude to the 1993-4 season. Smith decided to sit out until it was resolved, and the Cowboys went 0-2 at the beginning of the season. They paid Smith and the team won another Super Bowl.
Now we have the Broncos, who just won the Super Bowl, having contract troubles with Miller. It might take a couple of losses to convince the Broncos to show Miller the money. The problem with that theory is this Broncos team is not Super Bowl ready at quarterback. They expect to lose games here and there.
So mostly this might just be posturing by Miller. However if it holds up, Miller would certainly miss game 1 against the Panthers. What game would send a clearer message to the higher ups than a loss to Carolina?
That would put the Panthers in the fortuitous position of not facing their biggest problem from February. Sure, the revenge would not be as sweet. The Panthers will need wins on their schedule though in order to do things like secure byes or even playoff bids. If Von Miller wants to make it one game easier, let him.