ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Wade Phillips has seen a lot of things in his 39 NFL seasons, so he certainly knows what a Defensive Player of Year looks like.

He was the Buffalo Bills' defensive coordinator when Bryce Paup and Bruce Smith won the award in back-to-back seasons in 1995 and 1996, respectively, and he was the Houston Texans defensive coordinator in 2012 when J.J. Watt won the award.

And now he’s the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator when he thinks Von Miller is on the way to making a case for this year's award.

“Oh yeah, I’ve had several in my career," Phillips said, “and he’s right up there on that level."

At the moment, Miller leads the league in sacks, with 12.5, despite a stream of double-teams he has faced and despite the fact DeMarcus Ware missed five games earlier this season with a fractured forearm and is just now approaching full speed.

Miller also is fourth on the Broncos’ defense with 49 tackles, leads the team in tackles for loss with 12 and leads the team in quarterback hits with 21. He also happens to reside in the same division as one of the other prominent players in the discussion, the Raiders' Khalil Mack, who has nine sacks to go with 51 tackles.

The Raiders also lead the AFC West at 9-2 while the Broncos are 7-4.

Miller, who was the MVP of Super Bowl 50 this past February and signed a $114.5 million contract in July, needs six sacks over the Broncos’ final five games of the regular season to match his career-best of 18.5 sacks in 2012 when current Raiders coach Jack Del Rio was the Broncos’ defensive coordinator.

“I think (Miller) is one of those guys now you’ve got to put two guys on him to stop him or to slow him down," Ware said. “I think he’s one ... of those candidates, he’s playing up to the standard."

Ware, who finished as the runner-up for the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2008 when he had 20 sacks, said after Thursday’s practice that one of the best attributes Miller has shown this season, beyond just his level of play, has been the way he’s handled all of the extra blockers coming at him.

For his part, Miller has said he doesn’t complain to officials because “I’m supposed to get sacks no matter how many guys are blocking me, that’s my job, that’s what I do."

“He’s been cool with it, he’s been keeping his composure," Ware said. “You’ve always got to stay hungry, you’ve got to keep that vibe no matter if you have one sack, three sacks, just erase the board ... like you didn’t have anything and always be aggressive."

With his 12.5 sacks so far this season, Miller has already tied Simon Fletcher's franchise record of five seasons with at least 10 sacks. Ware, who signed with the Broncos in 2014, the year after Miller went through some off-the-field struggles that included a six-game suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy, said he has seen Miller grow in the last three seasons.

“The focus aspect of how much he wants it," Ware said. “(He’s) been that mature guy... That’s what leaders do, not just think about themselves."