KUSA—Ndamukong Suh is so big, so bad, he stands between the Denver Broncos and Von Miller from reaching agreement on a new contract.

Think centers, guards, quarterbacks and running backs often find Suh an impenetrable force?

Suh, who is otherwise a defensive tackle for the Miami Dolphins, has become a Berlin Wall in Broncos’ negotiations with Miller.

Suh is the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player with an average of $19.0625 million a year.

The Broncos don’t want to pay Miller that kind of dough because they consider Suh’s contract to be an outlier. And indeed, well behind Suh are the next five highest-paid defensive players -- Kansas City’s Justin Houston, Houston’s J.J. Watt, Buffalo’s Marcel Dareus and Mario Williams, and Tampa Bay’s Gerald McCoy – who are bunched between Houston’s $16.83 million annual average and McCoy’s $15.867 million.

So Suh is well-separated from the pack – just as Calvin Johnson was as free-agents Demaryius Thomas and Dez Bryant were seeking to use the leverage of free agency to become the league’s highest-paid receivers last year.

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But here’s the Broncos’ problem as they try to re-sign Miller to a deal that would make him the league’s second-highest paid player: Their pass-rushing outside linebacker is the league’s No. 1 defensive player. OK, Watt is the best, but he’s also irrelevant in Miller’s case because he’s under contract through 2021. Miller's contract has expired.

Besides, anyone who watched Miller record 5.0 sacks in three postseason games would argue Watt has company in the game’s best defensive player discussion.

Demaryius Thomas was never quite Calvin Johnson in his prime. Miller is a more dynamic player than Suh.

And yes, Miller and his agent Joby Branion are asking for a deal that would re-set the market. In this continuing 9NEWS series, the case for Miller is simple: He can singlehandedly win a Super Bowl.

What else is there?

In Broncos’ history only one other player – running back Terrell Davis in the Super Bowl championship season of 1997 – can make such a claim.

But even Davis needed his offensive line to block for him and quarterback John Elway to keep the Green Bay defense honest. Miller all by himself destroyed the Carolina Panthers for two strip-sack fumbles that led to the Broncos' only two touchdowns – the difference in Denver’s 24-10 victory in Super Bowl 50 three weeks ago.

Miller has never known anything less than a division title and second-round playoff appearance since the Broncos drafted him with the No. 2 overall pick five years ago.

In fairness to the Broncos, they are acknowledging Miller’s postseason exploits. Houston was coming off a 22-sack season in 2014 when he converted the Chiefs’ franchise tag into a six-year, $101 million deal last year.

Miller is coming off an 11-sack season, yet the Broncos have offered him a multiyear deal that exceeded Houston’s and crossed into the $17 million annual average territory.

Miller can quash any regular-season argument, though, by the fact he has been more consistently productive than anyone but Watt since Miller, Watt, Houston and Dareus were drafted into the league in 2011.

A look at the NFL sack leaders the past five regular seasons, along with Miller’s second specialty stat of forced fumbles:

Player …………….. Sacks .… FF

J.J. Watt ……......... 74.5 …. 15

Von Miller ……...... 60.0 …. 16

Justin Houston ..... 56.0 ….. 8

DeMarcus Ware … 54.5 … 10

Jared Allen ………... 53.0 ….. 9

If the Broncos and Miller don’t reach agreement by 2 p.m. Tuesday, he will be slapped with a franchise tag that would pay him a $14.129 million salary -- whether it's a non-exclusive tag, where teams can try to sign him away but would have to give back two, first-round draft picks, or the exclusive tag, where no other team could come in and try to steal him away from the Broncos.

If he gets the exclusive tag, Miller would be the first to receive such a distinction since New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees in 2012.

The good news for Broncos fans is the tag would mean Miller returns to the team in 2016. The bad news is Miller would not be happy playing on one-year salary. And the Broncos need Miller to play in 2016 like he did in 2015 if they are to repeat as Super Bowl champs. He is that important.

The two sides have been exchanging proposals, as recently as within the last 24 hours. A possible compromise: Miller accepts a multiyear deal that is less than Suh’s $19.062 million annual average but exceeds his $60 million full guarantee in the first three years. That way, the Broncos can say they didn’t pay out Suh money to Miller but Miller can set a record in “real dollars.”

A big reason why Suh is the league’s highest-paid defensive player is because he was allowed to reach free agency last year when Oakland, Detroit and Miami engaged in a bidding war. The Detroit Lions dropped out when the bidding got past $16 million a year. Oakland dropped out after Suh’s proposal reached an average of $17 million.

Miami made sure it got Suh by leaping to $19 million.

The contracts for Watt, Dareus and McCoy are not as large in part they were extensions – deals tacked on to previous deals.

There is some thought the Broncos should have talked contract extension with Miller back in August, when two consecutive years of clean tests cleared him from the NFL substance abuse program.

The reason the Broncos don’t do big extensions, though, is because they’ve all in payroll-wise year to year for a run at the Super Bowl. An extension might have prevented the Broncos from signing All Pro left guard Evan Mathis late in the preseason.

The Elway general manager philosophy works. See the Lombardi Trophy. But the backlash to the “all-in’’ strategy is Elway is now looking at Miller – with Ndamukong Suh standing menacingly in between.

(The 9News series, The case for ... '' looked at Malik Jackson on Sunday and will review impending quarterback Brock Osweiler on Tuesday and DeMarcus Ware, who is facing a pay cut , on Wednesday.)

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