{"id":34418,"date":"2025-07-24T19:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/34418\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T19:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:07:09","slug":"commanders-von-miller-i-can-still-roll-out-of-bed-and-rush-passer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/34418\/","title":{"rendered":"Commanders’ Von Miller – I can ‘still roll out of bed’ and rush passer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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John KeimJul 24, 2025, 01:44 PM ET<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>John Keim covers the Washington Commanders for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2013 after a stint with the Washington Post. He started covering the team in 1994 for the Journal Newspapers and later for the Washington Examiner. He has authored\/co-authored four books. You can also listen to him on ‘The John Keim Report’, which airs on ESPN Richmond radio.<\/p>\n

ASHBURN, Va. — New Washington Commanders<\/a> linebacker Von Miller<\/a> is not among those who question what he can still do as an edge rusher at age 36. He made that clear during his first news conference since joining Washington.<\/p>\n

“Let me rush, that’s what I do,” Miller said Thursday. “I can still roll out of bed at 36 years old with my shoes on and rush the passer. I can do that right when I wake up fresh out of sleep. I love rushing the passer.”<\/p>\n

The Commanders clearly appreciate those who can do that as well. They signed Miller this week to a one-year deal for $6.1 million, with the ability to earn up to $10.5 million in incentives. The Commanders ranked 11th in sacks with 43 last season, but they were 30th in fourth-quarter sacks with five.<\/p>\n

Both Miller and the Commanders also are looking for the same thing: a trip to the Super Bowl. Miller won a Super Bowl in Denver, when he was named the game’s MVP, and with the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>. Miller lost in the AFC Championship Game last season with Buffalo.<\/p>\n

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Washington has not played in the Super Bowl since the 1991 season but reached the NFC Championship Game last season for the first time since.<\/p>\n

“You just can’t leave Josh Allen<\/a> for anywhere,” Miller said. “You can’t go from the AFC championship and go anywhere. … This team is all about winning. I’m all about winning. That’s why I’m here is to win.”<\/p>\n

Miller chose to sign with the Commanders — over two other teams, according to a source — largely because they had a second-year quarterback in Jayden Daniels<\/a> coming off a rookie season that was hard to top. Miller called Daniels one of the best quarterbacks in the league.<\/p>\n

As a pass rusher, Miller has been one of the NFL’s best since entering the league in 2011 with Denver. He has recorded 129.5 career sacks, including six last season with Buffalo.<\/p>\n

With Washington, Miller likely will be a situational pass rusher. The Commanders have a deeper rotation of ends who can play the run.<\/p>\n

Washington coach Dan Quinn said he still saw Miller’s ability when watching him on tape before the team signed him.<\/p>\n

“What I saw on tape, the quickness to beat somebody to the punch, and that’s what pass rushing, the first part, has to be about,” Quinn said. “[It’s] about getting the offensive tackle back and feeling that stress. If you don’t have that, it makes it difficult to put a lot of stress on a tackle.<\/p>\n

“You have it, or you don’t. You can see it. It’s not hard to evaluate somebody that’s got the ability to really jump off the spot.”<\/p>\n

Miller said that as he has aged, the wisdom he has collected has helped even if he has lost a little of what made him one of the most feared pass rushers in his first eight seasons. During that period with Denver, he recorded double-digit sacks seven times, and in the one year he didn’t he missed seven games because of injury.<\/p>\n

He said he can still play fast.<\/p>\n

“When I put the cleats on, when I get in my stance, I can just feel it, still twitchy,” he said, “probably not as twitchy as I was before when I was 21 years old. That’s just life.<\/p>\n

“But I still got enough twitch to still go out here and do what I do and be effective in the game. I still feel like I have something to give to the game. The trick is you don’t want to get kicked out the league, but you don’t want to leave too early either. I’m still in between that sweet spot, and I’m doing everything in my power to stay there.”<\/p>\n

Miller also said it took him time to adjust in Buffalo to playing less and being a situational rusher. He said he likes playing more because it allows him to set up certain moves later in the game.<\/p>\n

He then likened his role at 36 to a basketball player tasked to make an instant impact off the bench.<\/p>\n

“My position now, I get in the game, and I’ve got to shoot the 3 right now,” he said. “I’m coming off the bench and I’m dribbling and I’m shooting the 3 right now. I’m not passing the ball.”<\/p>\n

Washington hopes Miller’s versatility combined with outside linebacker Frankie Luvu<\/a>, who recorded a career-high eight sacks last season, will provide a more consistent rush throughout the game. Luvu said that when he played in Carolina, he studied Miller.<\/p>\n

“He’s going to help us a lot,” Luvu said. “To have him on our defense will bring nothing but juice in winning time moments.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John KeimJul 24, 2025, 01:44 PM ET CloseJohn Keim covers the Washington Commanders for ESPN. He joined ESPN…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-34418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}