Denver Broncos star Von Miller tests positive for coronavirus: 'I'm in good spirits'
Longtime Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller is now the NFL’s second known player to have tested positive for COVID-19.
Miller’s agent told the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Thursday afternoon that he has a confirmed case of the coronavirus. The 31-year-old is currently resting at his Denver-area home.
NFL star and Super Bowl 50 MVP Von Miller has a confirmed case of COVID-19, his agent @JobyBranion of @VanguardSG tells me. The #Broncos star is at home resting and in good spirits. He plans to speak publicly tomorrow.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 16, 2020
“I’ve just been here in the crib and I started to get a little cough,” Miller said Thursday, via Mike Klis of 9News. “You know I have asthma and I started getting a little cough a couple days ago. My girlfriend she told me when I was asleep, she said my cough it didn’t sound normal.’’
Miller said he first tried using a nebulizer, which he often uses to help with his asthma. That, though, didn’t make much of a difference.
“It wasn’t working how I thought it would,” Miller said, via 9News. “My assistant said let’s go get tested. So I got tested, that was two days ago. I started to feel like normal yesterday and then this morning [team doctor Steve Geraghty] called me and told me [I had tested positive].”
Miller is the second confirmed player in the league to have the coronavirus, joining Los Angeles Rams center Brian Allen who tested positive for the virus three weeks ago, though is now reportedly almost symptom-free.
New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton previously tested positive, but has since recovered. At least one member of the Los Angeles Chargers organization tested positive this week, too, and two others reportedly have symptoms. The Chargers and Rams’ new stadium had at least two workers test positive as well.
[ Coronavirus: How the sports world is responding to the pandemic ]
There were more than 662,400 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States as of Thursday afternoon, according to The New York Times, and more than 8,200 in Colorado alone.
Miller — who the Broncos selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2011 draft — recorded 46 total tackles and eight sacks for the Broncos last season, his ninth in the league. The eight-time Pro Bowler and former Super Bowl MVP is set to enter the fifth year of his six-year, $144 million deal with the team this fall.
“It's crazy,” Miller said, via 9News. “I have to be quarantined here at the house. There's not really any medicine or anything like that. Dr. Geraghty told me if my breathing changed ... honestly, I'm still new to this. This is like an hour [old].
“I'm not sure what's going on but I tell ya what, I'm in good spirits. I'm still Von. I'm not feeling sick or hurting or anything like that.”
Miller went on the TODAY Show on Friday to share his story with a broader audience. In the month he’s been in Denver since San Francisco’s quarantine order, he said he’s “probably left the house four times” and never got out of the car when he picked up food. He said he has had people such as maids and plumbers come to the house, though.
He cautioned agains the NFL returning too soon, saying the safer option should be advised.
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