Von Miller angry that ACL injury slowed 2023 season, pass rusher says he ‘shouldn’t have been out there’

For the first time in his eventual Hall of Fame career, Von Miller did not record a single sack last season. The Buffalo Bills pass rusher was trying to bounce back after suffering a torn ACL late in the 2022 campaign, and the injury slowed his production immensely in 2023. Miler appeared in 12 regular season games and tallied just three tackles and zero sacks. Recently, Miller acknowledged that he probably shouldn’t have suited up last year and taken more time to recover. 

“My biggest individual goal is just getting back to playing my style of football,” he said, via Sports Illustrated. “It’s crazy how you get injured, and you come back, and you really shouldn’t have even been playing, and people judge you by a product on the field. I could have easily sat out all of last season, but I couldn’t do my teammates like that. I felt like being later in my career, I didn’t want to sacrifice any of my years. But at the same time, I shouldn’t have been out there.”

Now, as Miller heads into his 14th season in the NFL, he’s motivated to return to the player he once was and show that his production last year was a mere blip on the radar. While getting back to sacking the quarterback is Miller’s personal goal, he also noted that the “biggest team goal is bringing the first Super Bowl to Buffalo.”

“I feel like people are judging me on that [last season], so it’s making me a little bit angry, to be honest,” he said. “It’s making me tap into a Von that I haven’t been in a while. I just want to get back to playing my style of football. Get back to talking shit, f—-ng making sacks, dancing, and making plays for my teammates. That’s been my whole mindset this offseason.”

Being further removed from that torn ACL, Miller should be a more impactful player within the Bills rushing unit even as he enters his age-35 season. He’ll be a rotational piece alongside fellow pass rushers Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa.