Von Miller and J.J. Watt entered the NFL nine picks apart from each other in the 2011 draft. Miller was a second overall selection by the Broncos, while Watt went 11th to the Texans, and while the two play different positions, their similar production has brought constant comparisons for going on five seasons.

Monday, Miller was faced with a question he receives on at least an annual basis: Do you consider J.J. Watt the best defensive player in the game?

"You ask me this every year," Miller said, via CBS4's Vic Lombardi and the team website. "... J.J. is an awesome talent. I mean, he's incredible -- once-in-a-lifetime player. But I'm a once-in-a-lifteime player, too. I feel like I can go out there and I can play with the best of them. It's a lot of talk before the season. Luckily I got a season coming up where I get to lay it all out there and show everybody the type of Von that I can be. I want it to be about me this season. That's the way I'm going about it -- me and the Broncos."

Asked Von to compare himself to JJ Watt pic.twitter.com/JwoOMjDJug — Vic Lombardi (@VicLombardi) August 17, 2015



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There's no doubt Miller and Watt are two of the most feared pass rushers in the league, but the individual battle for best defensive player between the two has gone back and forth throughout the last four years. Miller took the early lead, notching 11.5 sacks and earning AP Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2011. Although he followed it up with a franchise-record 18.5 sacks in 2012, it was Watt who took home the Defensive Player of the Year award that year with 20.5 sacks. He matched that total again in 2014 on the way to his second Defensive Player of the Year trophy and has become one of the game's biggest stars.

In all, Watt enters his fifth season with 57 career sacks, while Miller comes in with 49. It's clear, though, that Miller sees himself on par with Watt and capable of being the NFL's best player on the defensive side of the ball.

Miller and Watt will both take the field Saturday as the Broncos head to Houston for a 6 p.m. MT kickoff. And while it's just a preseason game, you can bet Miller will go out looking to show Texans fans and everyone else watching that he can be just as dominant as Watt has been the majority of the last three years.