I think we all agree that TE Heath Miller is awesome and has an incredibly bright future ahead of him in the NFL. While thinking about the passing game however, I didn't fully consider how he would fit into the mix. Miller's alternative stats were perhaps even better than his traditional stats :
DPAR = 14.1, DPAR Rank = 9th, PAR = 14.3, PAR Rank = 9th, DVOA = 29.3%, DVOA Rank = 5th, VOA = 30.2%. Miller's value per play put him in the top five in the league for tight ends. Not bad. However, check out the top 15 and look at the number of passes thrown to them. Of the top 15, only two players(Chris Baker NYJ, Dallas Clark IND) had fewer balls thrown their way. I've got to believe that Miller is going to have quite a few more balls thrown to him this year. I think it may take a few games, if not more, to learn how to best utilize Santonio Holmes. He's quite a talent (kinda reminds me of Santana Moss) but he's not your prototypical 6'4" wideout. It took the Steelers quite awhile to truly maximize Randle-El's talents, even though he showed signs of brilliance early in his career. To help offset the loss of Randle-El and to take some pressure off of Hines Ward, perhaps Wisenhunt will try to utilize his big and capable tight end quite a bit more this year.Filed under: