Thoughts on Bills' Von Miller's Alarmingly low PFF Ranking, Team's Pass Rush

The 33-year-old is classified in the fifth tier as a `declining force.'

Without a doubt, Buffalo's biggest splash signing in NFL free agency was Von Miller, a proven All-Pro who likely will land in the Hall of Fame as soon as he's eligible.

What Pro Football Focus hinted strongly with its 2022 edge rusher rankings, however, is that Miller is a lot closer to that moment than he is removed from the start of his career in 2011.

Miller (126.0 sacks in 161 career games, including playoffs) is ranked at the top of Tier 5, which PFF calls "declining forces," and No. 22 overall, behind the likes of "underrated veterans" such as the Jets' John Franklin-Myers (12.0 sacks in 50 career games, career high of 6.0 in 2021) and Arik Armstead (33.5 sacks in 101 career games, one career double-digit sack season).

So, as Jimmy Conway famously asked Tommy D in Goodfellas, what's the world coming to?

But before we react like Tommy D did to that question, some context is necessary.

While ranking Miller so low, author Sam Monson did point out that Miller still probably has a good bit left in the tank.

We saw last season that Miller still has some juice. He enjoyed his first double-digit pressure game in multiple years and earned a 93.0 PFF grade during the Rams' playoff run to a Super Bowl. Miller may be a declining force, but he is declining from a position of being the best edge rusher of his generation, so he has plenty of room to slip and still be a significant problem for opposing offenses.

For his part, Miller has said that he intends to fulfill the length of his six-year contract, which the Bills will never allow because of the way it's backloaded and their ability to terminate it after three seasons with substantial salary cap savings.

So while they definitely overpaid to get him, they kept to their philosophy that quarterback play and getting the opposing quarterback down are the two most important components of pro football today.

What's more, they weren't content to add just Miller. They brought back Shaq Lawson on a free-agent contract after two seasons away from Buffalo. That served as an ostensible acknowledgement that they erred by letting him go in the first place following his career high of 6.5 sacks in 2019.

They also beefed up the interior rush with Tim Settle and Jordan Phillips and drafted a cornerback, Kaiir Elam, whose strength is press coverage that typically gives pass rushers more time to get home, in the first round.

This, after using their first- and second-round picks last year on edge rushers Greg Rousseau and Carlos "Boogie" Basham, respectively, and drafting A.J. Epenesa in the second round the year before

The Bills are sparing no expense in this area and are counting on a significantly better pass rush in 2022 than they had in 2021.

They're betting heavily on it while disregarding the notion that Miller can ever seriously be ranked behind John Franklin-Myers and the like.

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Bills offseason schedule

OTAs

May 23-24

May 26

May 31-June 2

June 6-7

June 9-10

Mandatory minicamp

June 14-16

Training camp

TBA at St. John Fisher College and ADPRO Sports Training center

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Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.