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Jimmie Johnson wins 1st pole of the season at New Hampshire

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Our Opinion: Snake wranglers deserve praise for getting driver out of tight squeeze

<p>ENGLEWOOD, Colo. &#8212; Super Bowl MVP Von Miller practiced both pirouettes and patience this offseason.</p><p>While his dance moves didn&#8217;t earn him the title on &#8220;Dancing With The Stars,&#8221; Miller&#8217;s stare-down in contract negotiations paid off Friday when he signed a six-year, $114.5 million deadline deal with the Denver Broncos that includes $70 million guaranteed.</p><p>That&#8217;s almost double the guaranteed money the Broncos were offering him in June.</p><p>Miller received $23 million at signing and will earn $61 million over the first eight months of the blockbuster deal that makes him the highest-paid player outside of quarterbacks in NFL history.</p><p>Miller thanked team owner Pat Bowlen, president and CEO Joe Ellis, general manager John Elway and coach Gary Kubiak &#8220;for making this possible.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m also thankful for the way my teammates and our fans have supported me,&#8221; Miller said in a statement. &#8220;I&#8217;m excited for the future and ready to get back to work.&#8221;</p><p>Miller and agent Joby Branion parlayed patience into a record-breaking deal in terms of overall value and guarantees. Last month, Miller&#8217;s camp rejected the $38.5 million the Broncos offered in guarantees, and Miller threatened to sit out the season barring a long-term deal.</p><p>Elway bolstered the offer over the last week and now the man who almost single-handedly destroyed Carolina&#8217;s championship dreams will lead Denver&#8217;s title defense that begins Sept. 8 against those Panthers.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m happy that both sides were able to broker a deal that works for both sides,&#8221; Branion said. &#8220;That&#8217;s the mark of a good negotiation. The Broncos are happy to have Von back and Von&#8217;s happy to be back.&#8221;</p><p>Miller was in Utah on Friday for an appearance with Whitney Carson, his partner on &#8220;Dancing With The Stars, and Elway was overseas.</p><p>&#8220;Congrats Millerlite40! Excited for what the future holds for you &amp; our team,&#8221; Elway tweeted. &#8220;Proud of everyone for getting it done.&#8221;</p><p>The cornerstone of the league&#8217;s best defense accepted the Broncos&#8217; blockbuster offer two hours before Friday&#8217;s deadline, tweeting a photo of himself in his orange No. 58 jersey with the caption &#8220;For Life.&#8221;</p><p>Both the overall value of the deal and the guaranteed money are records for nonquarterbacks. The only player with more guaranteed money is Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, the league&#8217;s highest-paid player. The six-year, $140 million contract Luck signed last month includes $75 million fully guaranteed.</p><p>The next few years will determine whether Miller&#8217;s deal is a win-win in Denver. But it&#8217;s already a huge victory for the versatile outside linebacker who has 60 career sacks in five seasons.</p><p>This contract checks off all the boxes for Miller &#8212; the biggest overall deal for a non-QB in league history, most guaranteed money for an NFL defensive player and a benchmark contract that raises the bar for the next superstar.</p><p>In June, Miller&#8217;s camp agreed to the parameters of the Broncos&#8217; six-year offer that slightly exceeded the $114.375 million Miami&#8217;s Ndamukong Suh received in 2015 in becoming the league&#8217;s highest-paid defender. But they asked for millions more in guarantees.</p><p>Fletcher Cox quickly established a new floor for Miller with his $63.3 million in guarantees, and Luck&#8217;s deal raised the ceiling for Miller, the star of Super Bowl 50.</p><p>After Elway put his exclusive franchise tag on him, Miller skipped the Broncos&#8217; offseason program, joining his teammates only for their White House visit and ring ceremony. But Miller stayed in tip-top shape, in part by doing all that dancing on ABC&#8217;s prime-time hit show.</p><p>Miller, the second overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft, has 60 career sacks and has bounced back from a 2013 season that was derailed by a suspension and a knee injury that sidelined him for the Broncos&#8217; Super Bowl loss to Seattle.</p><p>Miller predicted peaceful contract negotiations 12 hours after spearheading Denver&#8217;s 24-10 win over Carolina in this year&#8217;s Super Bowl. But things got thorny last month after details of Denver&#8217;s June 7 offer became public. Miller cropped Elway from a photo on his Instagram account and then said there was no way he&#8217;d play this season on the franchise tag.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Denver Broncos&#8217; Von Miller (58) celebrates with teammates in the fourth quarter of NFL Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif. Miller has agreed to a blockbuster $114.5 million contract with the Denver Broncos that includes $70 million in guarantees and makes him the highest-paid nonquarterback in NFL history. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_111405622-e6acf010078e461cbd45580f3b123e64.jpg</photo0><caption0>Denver Broncos&#8217; Von Miller (58) celebrates with teammates in the fourth quarter of NFL Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif. Miller has agreed to a blockbuster $114.5 million contract with the Denver Broncos that includes $70 million in guarantees and makes him the highest-paid nonquarterback in NFL history. </caption0><photoCredit0>Gregory Payan | AP file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Arnie Stapleton</p><p>AP Pro Football Writer</p></bylineMeta></div>

Von Miller signs record-breaking $114.5M deal with Broncos