TheBaronPatriot

Von Miller Interview, NFL Draft - DraftCountdown.com
It's really a great interview - really worth checking out.

Some quotes (I don't know how to do the fancy quote formatting):

Whatever they want me to play; I’ll play it. If they want me to play tight end, quarterback, or wherever they want me, I’ll play it.

I’m a very humble guy, so I don’t mind coming in and lowering my head and lowering my pride for the guys that’s been there working for years.

But the main reason for coming back was to be with my brothers and my teammates

I need to work on all areas of my game. I don’t think I’ve made it yet in any area of my game. I just want to keep on working, keep on improving and taking it day-by-day.

There are no moral victories in football. You can come close, but a loss is a loss and a win is a win. I have to think that losing is the worst thing about football.

The guy that I really try to emulate my game after is Derrick Thomas. I got a lot of game film on Derrick Thomas.

I’m just taking it day-by-day and not try to get too far ahead of myself. My formula for success is to take it day-by-day, try to maximize every day that I live and try to stack days.

I just want to be a great teammate. I want to win games. Whatever organization brings me in, I want to win and be the best teammate I can possibly be.

It’s not about money for me. I’ve been wanting to play football since I was a little kid. Just to have the opportunity to go out on Sundays and have the whole world watching, it’s priceless.

This guy sounds like a Patriot to me.
Plays for the love of the game.
History - watching Derrick Thomas.
Humble - wants to improve & win.

With rumors about the Pats willing to grab a smaller LB and the rookie pay scale. I would love to see us package guys (Merriweather?, Mankins) and picks to move up to grab him. I think we all trust BB to not overpay.

And for all the arguments about not being enough - Clay Matthews weighed 240 coming out, James Harrisson weighs 242 ish right now. Von can put on a few more lbs and round out at 250lb and at this point he's as big as Colvin and TBC.

TriplecHamp

sounds like a kid with the right mindset but inb4 those guys wouldn't be effective here/Miller is overrated!!!1

TheBaronPatriot

Matthews/Harrisson not being effective in our system is pure opinion.
Would they better than TBC?
How effective was TBC this season?

Would you say Miller looks like a guy who COULD eventually learn to set the edge? Is he: big, smart, willing to work, study enough to do this? I think the answer is yes.

Worse case scenario use him in coverage/pass rushing situations while he learns. But he could come in day 1 and contribute.

sbpatfan

I hate the system. I'm not sold on Miller because all he seems to do is speed rush, but there's plenty of smaller pass rushers like him.

upstater1

I hope everyone realizes that Von Miller is one of the 10 players who signed onto the lawsuit of the NFL.

Kind of amazing when you think about it. Some people are saying the old rules will apply if the judge ends the lockout. That means that Von Miller would hit the jackpot. On the other hand, the owners might hold it against him and drop his butt in the draft.

TriplecHamp

An opinion that seems prevalent around here, I don't agree with it but there is a camp that does.

MaineMan

Some of the older owners like Davis and Wilson might hold it against him. IMO, most of the newer owners are more "rationalist" business types who understand that SOMEbody has to sign on as the plaintiff in a lawsuit and the actual names don't really matter very much. These newer guy are probably also smart enough to know that if there was even an appearance of collusion to "blackball" Von Miller after this, they'd have anti-trust investigators rooting around in their underwear drawers in a New York minute.

bucky

Perhaps you've heard there's a lockout? And it'll be April till the judge even rules whether the lockout is legal. So the chances of trading existing players is almost none. Even if there were, Mankins is not signed to a contract and Merriweather might be in legal trouble - so both are untradeable.

That being said, 17+28 should get us up to #6 - which is where we'll have to go to get Miller. Count me in!

TheBaronPatriot

If his stock drops for it all the better.
It's all business after all.
Once that's done - the pads come on and it's time to win games.

MaineMan

IDK. I think Miller could be gone by #2 to Denver. It seems to me that they're equally thin at OLB and DE. They'll still have a pretty decent selection at 4-3 DE when they pick next at #36, but OLB, not so much.