Twelve years ago, he was one of the prospects. At some point in the future, he could be the person ultimately responsible for finding them.
Bills linebacker Von Miller, the MVP of Super Bowl 50, has arrived in Indianapolis for the Scouting Combine with the goal of eventually becoming a General Manager.
“This is what I want to do,’’ Miller told Mike Klis of 9News.com. “I wanted to do this one time before in college when I took my poultry science class and I sat in that class and said If I don’t make it in the NFL and it doesn’t work out, this is what I want to do. . . . So this is my second time really feeling like that. It’s what I want to do.”
So what he’s doing is showing up in Indy with the goal of learning the craft of finding NFL players. He realizes he has a long way to go.
“I don’t have any experience,” Miller said. “I know what a great football team looks like. I know what a winning football team looks like. A great staff, great equipment guys, great athletic trainers. I know what that looks like, I know what it takes to build those teams but that’s it.
“So I’m here to meet with guys, for the guys to give me instructions on what to do with my right foot next and what to do with my left foot next. And make the first steps to making this happen.”
Miller told Klis he’ll meet with “whoever will meet with me.” The challenge for Miller will be getting General Managers and others who work for teams other than the Bills to agree to talk to him, since he’s under contract with Buffalo. Indeed, we know of at least one General Manager who has declined to meet with Miller for fear of tampering charges.
Really, what Miller should be doing is asking to work directly with his own team’s front office. Whether a team’s front office wants one of the players to know how the sausage is made is a different issue, however.
Still, it’s hard not to respect Miller’s hustle. At some point, however, the question becomes whether he’s willing to take a job as an area scout and work his way up the ladder, or whether he’ll hope to eventually become a G.M. without checking the various boxes that such jobs contemplate.
Given that his inspiration is former Broncos G.M. John Elway, who drafted Miller in 2011, maybe Miller thinks he can follow the unconventional path. Hey, if it worked for guys like Elway and John Lynch, why should’t it work for Miller?