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Alaina Getzenberg, ESPNOct 1, 2024, 04:50 PM ET
- Alaina Getzenberg is a staff writer who covers the Buffalo Bills and the NFL. She joined ESPN in 2021. Alaina was previously a beat reporter for the Charlotte Observer and has also worked for CBS Sports and the Dallas Morning News. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. You can follow her via Twitter @agetzenberg.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Bills defensive end Von Miller has been suspended four games without pay for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, the league announced Tuesday.
He will be eligible for reinstatement following the team’s Week 8 game at the Seattle Seahawks. Miller will also miss games at the Houston Texans and the New York Jets and vs. the Tennessee Titans.
The suspension appears to stem from allegations that Miller assaulted his pregnant girlfriend in November 2023 during the Bills’ bye week in suburban Dallas. The NFL did not respond to ESPN’s request for clarity over the nature of the suspension.
Miller turned himself in to the Glenn Heights (Texas) Police Department on Nov. 30 on an arrest warrant for a charge of third-degree felony assault of a pregnant woman. He was booked into the DeSoto Tri-City Jail that afternoon before being released on $5,000 bond.
Miller has denied the allegations and said that they are “100 percent false.” In July 2024, Miller said that the case is closed. No charges were ever filed in the case, but the NFL had been conducting a separate investigation.
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An affidavit obtained by ESPN last year detailed that the allegations against Miller include him putting a hand, and later both hands, on the woman’s neck for about three to five seconds, pulling her hair and trying to shove her while she was attempting to gather her things and leave after he told her to get out of the apartment where they both lived.
Per the affidavit, the woman told Miller she was going to call the police, which prompted him to leave the residence.
Police arrived at the condominium, observed “minor abrasions” on the woman’s left hand and bruising to her neck, “injuries consistent with applied pressure the neck,” in addition to bruising to her abdomen and left biceps. The injuries were documented when police took photographs that day.
When addressing the allegations for the first time in December 2023, Miller said, “Honestly, I wasn’t on social media before and definitely not on social media now. But from the things that have been brought to my attention, everything is false. And I would love to sit here and say, ‘Y’all know me!’ But it’s not, this is not that type of situation because domestic violence really happens around the world — for men and women. And it’s a serious situation so I would not pull that card.
“All I can say is it is just a matter of time before everything gets set straight.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in March that he did consider placing Miller on the commissioner’s exempt list, but that they did not feel it was appropriate at the time based on all the facts. The commissioner’s list makes players exempt from counting against the active roster for reasons determined by the commissioner.
Miller restructured his contract this offseason, saving the Bills $8.645 million in cap space. He signed a six-year deal with the team in 2022.
He served a six-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs in 2013.
Miller, 35, serves a rotational role on the Bills’ defensive line and has recorded three sacks this season, one in each of the first three games. He played nine snaps in the Week 4 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
The Bills signed defensive tackle Zion Logue from the Atlanta Falcons‘ practice squad in a corresponding move.
