Von Miller expects to be ready to play by early August

In his postseason press conference, Buffalo Bills edge rusher Von Miller said he is trying to get back to the gridiron sooner rather than later.

Miller, who had an ACL repair in December, said that he has plans to be back on the field by early August at the latest.

Miller suffered a knee injury on Thanksgiving Day, and while initial reports looked good and the Bills thought they would only be without him for a week or two, his 2022 season ended on Ford Field.

Miller originally thought he had some lateral meniscus damage, and hoped he would be able to brace up and return to play by Week 11 — just 17 days removed from the injury. Instead, on December 1, the Bills decided to place him on injured reserve and give his knee time to rest.

On December 7, Miller had exploratory surgery done with the intention of re-positioning the meniscus and cleaning up some cartilage. As we now know, however, that wasn’t all that the medical staff found while Miller was on the table in Dallas.

Doctors found ACL damage that wasn’t visible from the MRI and scans that had been done in the preceding two weeks, and the repair they performed meant that Miller was done for the season. In less than two weeks, the Bills’ pass rusher went from “bracing it up,” to “letting it rest,” to “cleaning it up a little,” to “see you next year.”

Now, Miller — who is 33 years old, and will be in his 13th NFL season come August — is saying that he will be back. A six-to-nine month return window, starting on December 7, would set Miller to be back sometime between June and September. Miller claims it won’t be the latter.

During his press conference on the morning after the Bills were eliminated from the NFL playoffs, Miller also said he had no intention of this being the last run this team made at a Super Bowl.

“We’re in a unique spot here. We got a great football team. Sometimes you gotta just keep playing. Sometimes you gotta just line up and give us another year to go through it again,” he said, indicating that he is going to be ready to make another run at a championship. “I didn’t feel like this was my one shot. The way this team was built, I came here to have multiple shots at winning the Super Bowl. I still feel like that.”