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It is never fun to see any players for the Pittsburgh Steelers get injured, especially fan favorites like Heath Miller. However, when Miller was lost on separate occasions with a rib injury, it was Jesse James who got the nod at Miller's position as tight end - a tall task for the rookie from Penn State.
Looking at the snap totals from the Week 12 game against the Seattle Seahawks, it was James who logged more snaps (40) than veteran tight end Matt Spaeth (25) when Miller left the game. Some might chalk this up to happenstance, but James has proven he is willing to take the next step in his progression and be the next heir apparent to the tight end position when Miller decides to call it a career.
Miller looks as if he still has one more season left in him, which would give the team more time to develop James and have him learn under Miller. The biggest knock on James coming out of college was his lack of physicality and blocking. He has improved by leaps and bounds in that department, and combined with his tremendous size and hands, he looks to be the total package for the future of the tight end position in the Steel City.
Check out the complete list of snap totals for the Steelers, courtesy of Pro-Football Reference.
Steelers Snap Counts
| Off. | Def. | ST | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Num | Pct | Num | Pct | Num | Pct | |
| David DeCastro | G | 80 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 17% |
| Marcus Gilbert | T | 80 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 17% |
| Alejandro Villanueva | T | 80 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 17% |
| Ramon Foster | G | 80 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 17% |
| Cody Wallace | C | 80 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Antonio Brown | WR | 78 | 98% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Ben Roethlisberger | QB | 77 | 96% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| DeAngelo Williams | RB | 76 | 95% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Martavis Bryant | WR | 66 | 83% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Markus Wheaton | WR | 60 | 75% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Jesse James | TE | 40 | 50% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 3% |
| Heath Miller | TE | 30 | 38% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 3% |
| Matt Spaeth | TE | 25 | 31% | 0 | 0% | 12 | 40% |
| Roosevelt Nix | FB | 8 | 10% | 0 | 0% | 22 | 73% |
| Will Johnson | FB | 8 | 10% | 0 | 0% | 18 | 60% |
| Darrius Heyward-Bey | WR | 8 | 10% | 0 | 0% | 15 | 50% |
| Landry Jones | QB | 3 | 4% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 3% |
| Jordan Todman | RB | 1 | 1% | 0 | 0% | 12 | 40% |
| Antwon Blake | CB | 0 | 0% | 62 | 105% | 7 | 23% |
| Will Allen | SS | 0 | 0% | 62 | 105% | 5 | 17% |
| William Gay | CB | 0 | 0% | 62 | 105% | 4 | 13% |
| Michael Mitchell | FS | 0 | 0% | 62 | 105% | 4 | 13% |
| Lawrence Timmons | LB | 0 | 0% | 62 | 105% | 4 | 13% |
| Stephon Tuitt | DE | 0 | 0% | 60 | 102% | 8 | 27% |
| Cameron Heyward | DE | 0 | 0% | 58 | 98% | 9 | 30% |
| Ross Cockrell | CB | 0 | 0% | 47 | 80% | 0 | 0% |
| Arthur Moats | LB | 0 | 0% | 34 | 58% | 7 | 23% |
| James Harrison | LB | 0 | 0% | 34 | 58% | 4 | 13% |
| Bud Dupree | LB | 0 | 0% | 28 | 47% | 8 | 27% |
| Vince Williams | LB | 0 | 0% | 27 | 46% | 25 | 83% |
| Sean Spence | LB | 0 | 0% | 24 | 41% | 10 | 33% |
| Steve McLendon | NT | 0 | 0% | 17 | 29% | 4 | 13% |
| Ryan Shazier | LB | 0 | 0% | 11 | 19% | 2 | 7% |
| Cam Thomas | DE | 0 | 0% | 4 | 7% | 1 | 3% |
| Terence Garvin | LB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 22 | 73% |
| Shamarko Thomas | SS | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 22 | 73% |
| Robert Golden | FS | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 22 | 73% |
| Brandon Boykin | CB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 17 | 57% |
| Jacoby Jones | WR | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 13 | 43% |
| Chris Boswell | K | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 12 | 40% |
| Greg Warren | LS | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 7 | 23% |
| Jordan Berry | P | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 6 | 20% |
| Doug Legursky | C | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 17% |