Still bleary eyed from celebrations hours earlier, Von Miller stood at a podium inside San Francisco’s Moscone Center the morning of Feb. 8 to receive an honor only nine other defensive players before him had earned. The moment was his and all about him, yet he tried to make it anything but.

After his signature “Howdy,” he rattled off the names of Broncos teammates who helped him through “the toughest of days” before quickly realizing he didn’t have time to name all 52. He thanked his mother. He praised general manager John Elway. He told of how happy he was to help defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and fellow linebacker DeMarcus Ware finally get a ring. He even thanked the media staring back at him.

Then he answered the question on everyone’s mind.

“It’s going to be a peaceful thing,” he said of his impending contract negotiations. “I am not really worried about it. It’s another thing that the media tries to play up. As for me, I am just enjoying being with my teammates, celebrating with those guys. That’s where I want to be at right now.”

The words were genuine, as they typically are from Miller. But the laborious process that awaited him quickly turned into a roller-coaster ride with twists and turns that seemed to catch him by surprise. The offseason that began in celebration ended in one too. But it also ran the full gamut of emotions and, to Miller’s chagrin, centered on him.

“Was Von taken aback? I think at the point it became clear that it wasn’t going to be easy, it was going to take time, it was going to be a process, yeah,” said Joby Branion, Miller’s agent. “Every player would like to just have a deal done.”

Ebbs and flows

Broncos cornerback Chris Harris knew how this would play out.

“I pretty much told everybody it was going to get done definitely at the deadline,” he said. “I’m just happy that everybody came to an agreement and now we can get back to really focusing on the team and getting ready for the season.”

But the starts and stops along the way raised questions and required more convincing. Negotiations between the Broncos and Branion began in February, with optimism, but also with the expectation an accord would not arrive quickly. The exclusive franchise tag was expected, but the weeks of silence that followed far outnumbered ones of communication.

The Broncos’ negotiating tactics were “unorthodox,” Branion has said. As in, minimal.

The stalled talks were in the shadows of Miller’s media tour that included stops everywhere but Dove Valley. There were the talk show appearances, the stint on “Dancing With the Stars,” the Grammys, the courtside seats and photo shoot after photo shoot.

But there also were Miller’s two-a-days and Brazilian jiu-jitsu workouts, and the stops at gyms across the country, from Miami to Hollywood, to maintain his conditioning. The few media interviews along the way carried the same tone and often the same message. Miller was optimistic. He knew it was a business. He was expecting a deal any day.

He was going to be a Bronco for life.

“Von, from the outset, wanted to stay in Denver,” Branion said. “I think as we went through the process, which was a lengthy one, he had to consider all of his options. So he certainly thought about them, because I made him do it.”

When terms of the Broncos’ six-year, $114.5 million offer were leaked without the fine print — the $38.5 million guaranteed — the tune changed. The business turned emotional. The declarations turned to doubt.

“It definitely is hard,” Harris said. “You have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to take care of your family, so you have to make the decision that’s best for you and your future. So there are a lot of things that go into it, and you just have to take time and really think about what you’re going to do or what decision you’re going to make.”

The decision arrived July 15, hours before the deadline and nearly a week after the Broncos made their last offer that included $70 million in guarantees. That morning, with a box of pastries in hand, Miller boarded a private plane headed for Salt Lake City. His offseason tour had a few more stops, but fans knew he now would be staying in Colorado long term.

Back in the fold

Miller thinks of the details. The littlest ones.

“He talks about tying his shoes walking out to training camp,” Branion said. “Stopping, tying his shoes, looking up and realizing, ‘Man, I’m out here with all my guys. I love this.’ That’s him. You see him in training camp and he’s got this sort of child-like optimism and he embraces it all.”

For the first time in six months, he will have it all when he trots onto the Broncos’ practice field for the start of training camp Thursday. With a contract that makes him the highest-paid nonquarterback in NFL history, Miller returns as the face of a franchise eager to defend its crown, but still in transition after losing two starting quarterbacks.

Much has changed since the last time Miller donned the orange-and-blue No. 58. But odds are he’ll return with the same wonderment that belies his frame and destructive ways on the field.

“Von is a smart guy,” Branion said. “He has a very strong emotional tie to the coaches, to the players, to the fans. His experience in Denver, while there has been a little bit of a roller-coaster ride, it has been a great upward trajectory the whole way. Improving as a team and him growing as a player, I think that all mattered to him. Clearly.”