Von Miller returns to limited practice, hopes Bills give him ‘green light to go play’ in London vs. Jaguars

The Bills appear to be on the doorstep of getting a major piece back on defense. Week 5 is the first threshold that pass rusher Von Miller is eligible to come off of the physically unable to perform list and, judging by the veteran’s recent comments, it looks like he might be on the field when Buffalo travels to London to face off for an international showdown with the Jaguars from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. 

When speaking about his imminent return on his podcast called “The Von Cast,” Miller, who suffered a torn ACL last Thanksgiving that sidelined him for the rest of that season and found him on the PUP list to start 2023, relayed that he’s pushing to get on the field as early as this week. 

“I don’t know if the fans can expect to see me yet, but if I was a betting man I would say yeah, you can expect to see Von Miller in London,” Miller said Tuesday, via NFL.com.

Head coach Sean McDermott told reporters this week that the team would be opening up Miller’s 21-day practice window and that they would simply take it “one day at a time” regarding when he’ll make his return in a game setting. Miller himself wants to play but acknowledged that it’ll be a tough hurdle to overcome. 

“It’s still not a promise that I play in this game,” Miller said. “I want to play in this game. I gotta practice [Wednesday] and I only get one padded practice. So obviously I go out there and I [need to] look amazing with this padded practice. Cause the difference is, like in training camp, you get multiple padded practices to kinda like figure your game out. I just get one padded practice tomorrow and then we have a shells practice on Thursday and then we fly to London on Thursday night. I really don’t have all the time in the world to like figure it out. I get one padded practice. So hopefully I look amazing tomorrow. I feel really strongly that I will. That’s just how I think I feel like I will be amazing tomorrow and everybody will give me the green light to go play in the game.”

Miller indeed practiced Wednesday, and was officially listed as limited as he got in some work with his teammates.

Miller signed a six-year, $120 million contract with the Bills in March of 2022. When he was on the field for Buffalo at the start of last year, the two-time Super Bowl champion was as-advertised, totaling eight sacks and 12 quarterback hits through 11 games. 

While Miller is a slam dunk future Hall of Famer and has accomplished plenty in his career, he has yet to play a game in London, which is admittedly part of the emphasis for the 34-year-old to try and play this week. 

“Who knows how many chances I’ll get to play in London, so I want this to happen,” he said. “I want this to happen, I’m pushing for it to happen. I think you can go ahead and really check that box and you guys will see me playing in London.”