Bills Without Von Miller: Potential Blessing in Disguise?

Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane said keeping Von Miller on PUP was a difficult call.

Starting the season without one of the best pass rushers in NFL history against one of the top quarterbacks in NFL history obviously is not ideal for the Buffalo Bills.

Nevertheless, they will head to their season opener on Sept. 11 at the New York Jets without defensive end Von Miller and his 123.5 career sacks. There, they will have to find ways to counter Aaron Rodgers and his 475 career touchdown passes.

Miller was left off their initial active roster and will remain on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list for precautionary reasons as he continues to recover from a torn ACL suffered late last season. The decision will force him to miss at least the first four games.

What it means is that the Bills will be counting on a slightly reconfigured rotation of edge rushers, as the coaching staff will get a real look at what they can do without Miller on the field. The group includes newcomer Leonard Floyd, Miller's former Los Angeles Rams teammate, to help get the job done against the Jets, who are widely considered a Super Bowl contender since they added Rodgers in the offseason.

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Floyd comes with some impressive career statistics of his own. He produced 29 sacks over the previous three seasons to increase his career total to 47.5. He's also four years younger than Miller.

On the other end will be rising star Greg Rousseau, who came through with eight sacks in 13 regular-season games last year. 

Shaq Lawson, entering the second season of his second stint with the Bills, and A.J. Epenesa, will back them up.

The rotation will not include third-year man Boogie Basham, a second-round pick in 2021 who never panned out. Basham was traded to the New York Giants on Tuesday.

Miller, their prized free-agent signing of 2022, had maintained throughout the offseason that he would be ready to go at the start. And to hear general manager Brandon Beane tell it, Miller still believes it.

"The closer we got, I don't think he would have been ready, you know, to immediately start the season," Beane said, "and so we're just going to try and play a smart game, [give him] a little extra time, so that he's truly ready to go. Von was ready. Like, he's ready to play ball, and you know that you can ultimately put that one on me."

But Miller and everyone else with an opinion that may have differed, were overruled by Beane, who would prefer to err on the side of caution.