John Elway hints at placing franchise tag on Von Miller

Denver Broncos general manager John Elway acknowledged it'd be difficult to reach a long-term extension with superstar linebacker Von Miller this summer.

Miller is coming off a brilliant postseason when he annihilated three of the NFL's best offenses, and captured Super Bowl MVP honors upon dominating the Carolina Panthers in a 24-10 victory.

The Broncos can elect to use the exclusive or non-exclusive franchise tag on Miller, and there's little chance he'd become an unrestricted free agent. Under the provisions of the exclusive tag, Miller would receive a one-year contract at the average of the top five salaries at his position, or 120 percent of his 2015 earnings.

Elway understands the importance of signing his best player, but maintains the Broncos' long-term viability takes precedence.

"The goal is always to get a long-term deal," Elway said about Miller to ESPN's Jeff Legwold. "But, again, that goes back into the same old process of trying to include everybody in what we're looking at and looking at it from the 20,000-foot view of how this team is going to look, not only next year but two or three years down the line. As you know, our goal is always to be competitive year-in and year-out, and that's what we want to do."

Denver can use the tag on Miller as early as Feb. 16, and have until March 1 to designate him as its franchise player.

The Broncos need to re-sign a number of prospective free agents, and using the tag on Miller would be their most practical option heading into the summer.