Heath Miller- A waste of $7,000,000/year?

[tony hipchest]

IMPORTANT NOTE- This post is in no way a slam on our great tight end.

ive heard all the gripes about the money wasted on aaron smith, hines ward, bryant mcfadden, and foote/farrior.

they are all legitimate gripes.

but perhaps the biggest waste (and the highest salary figure) is the 7 mil spent on out TE which is about as useless as tits on a bull in arians offense.

while other teams are utilizing atheletic tight ends and even making them focal points of their offense (think saints, patriots, green bay) bruce arians is too busy dicking around with the smurf wr branch/givens/patten offense the patriots abandoned over 6 years ago, as if it is something new and revolutionary. (that'll trick em).

miller is no more than the 4th option on this team and is on pace for 48 rec/6oo/yds and 0 tds.

we coulda easilly had the same production with matt spaeth for less than a third of the price.

people will cite how important he is to our running game, but we dont even have a running game. we pass about 70% of the time it seems and really only run the ball if ben is suspended or if we have a 10 point lead. are the plays he is lined up as blocker (or even worse a FB) really worth 7 mil/year?

if arians isnt gone next year then miller needs to go. i would love nothing more than to see him in an offense that actually knows how to use his talents. he would be a pro bowler with ATL, SD or AZ and all 3 could be looking for a TE next year.

[Big7BenHOF]

I actually completely agree with you, and I was thinking about this earlier today. He's a great tight end and has the potential to be one of the best tight ends in the league if used properly, but he won't show that potential in this offense. It's a waste of our money in this sense, and a waste of his talent. He'd succeed much more elsewhere.

[Steeldude]

i agree. i remember bringing this up when we drafted him. i was asking why draft a TE in the 1st round when you don't plan on using him for anything but blocking. why not add an extra tackle instead?

[ricardisimo]

How much does Arians make per year?

[Fire Arians]

Originally Posted by ricardisimo

How much does Arians make per year?

lol exactly what i was thinking. miller's salary isn't a waste of money, the OC's salary is the waste

[tony hipchest]

one of heath millers finest years was his rookie season with ken wiz (former NFL TE and current NFL head coach) as his OC.

anyone remember what heath miller did to the leagues best team (colts) on the road, in the playoffs, back when we actually gameplanned to take advantage of, and capitalize on an opponents weaknesses, as opposed to just "running our [predictable] game" and trying to" impose our will"?

[pete74]

i agree, were wasting 7mil a year on him if were not going to use him. its pathetic

[plenewken]

I completely agree with you. It kills me that the top offenses in the league use their TEs as receivers, not blockers and Tomlin/Arians still don't get it.
$7M/year for a blocking TE is absolutely ludicrous.
Add to it the fact that Tomlin/Arians don't believe a FB is necessary and you have 2 of the 3 main reasons why our offense sucks,

[SCMom]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

one of heath millers finest years was his rookie season with ken wiz (former NFL TE and current NFL head coach) as his OC.

anyone remember what heath miller did to the leagues best team (colts) on the road, in the playoffs, back when we actually gameplanned to take advantage of, and capitalize on an opponents weaknesses, as opposed to just "running our [predictable] game" and trying to" impose our will"?

Yes, I remember him lighting up the Colts asses in the playoffs, back when keeping a simple gameplan (for the most part) actually worked! Imagine that lol. I like Tomlin just fine (most of the time lol), and I know Wiz hasn't done very well (since Warner retired), but remembering games like those sometimes make me wish they had hired him as coach. I think it might have kept that balance on the team. Oh well. Que sera sera.

And yes, it is extremely unfortunate that he is underused so much. It boggles me that the FO and coaches seem oblivious to this.

[ricardisimo]

Let's just be clear: Heath is not the waste. He is worth every penny. He works his ass off in all aspects of his game, and although he's had some bizarre drops the past few years, he is money 99% of the time when Ben goes to him. How often is a Heath Miller catch not a first down? Maybe on a few 3rd and 20s, but even then he seems to get it done.

Now, that they are not using him to his potential is a legitimate gripe. It's like the guy who bought the mint green '57 Chevy Bel Air, and just parks it in the garage all year, covered up with bedsheets. Why?