Sleeper Player on Defense: Roy Miller

The defensive line has been put under the microscope in Tampa Bay for the past 2 season with its sub par play.

Tampa went from a team that featured Simeon Rice, Warren Sapp, Anthony McFarland, and Greg Spires across their defensive line, to having players like Stylez G. White, Ryan Sims, Chris Hovan, Jimmy Wilkerson, and Kyle Moore being everyday starters. 

To be fair, Hovan did have a good, not great career, and he was a good locker room guy. He did not strike fear in the hearts of offenses and never was dominant by any stretch of the imagination. By the 2009 season, he had become an liability in both pass and rush defense.

Since then, Tampa has done a complete make over with its defensive line, now having guys like DT’s, Gerald McCoy and Brian Price, who were drafted in the 2010 draft featured. And with the addition of DE’s Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers in the 2011 draft, the Bucs defensive line looks to be pretty nasty going forward.

 
 The Bucs have invested a lot of high draft picks into there defensive line the last three seasons. With both 1st and 2nd rounders of the 2010 and 2011 draft being dedicated to the DL, its no secret that the Bucs want to be dominate up front. Im not complaining, thats where it starts. 

There is a forgotten man here.

Before any of the stated four got to One Buc Place, the Bucs used their 3rd rounder in the 2009 draft on Texas DT, Roy Miller. Its easy to forget about Miller because he wasnt selected as high as the other four, but he shouldn’t be overlooked by any means.

Miller is one of the hardest working and strongest players on the team. At 6’2” 310 lbs, Miller is stout against the run and like McCoy, was starting to come a long strong by seasons end and was making stops in the backfield regularly.

At Texas, Miller was an animal, recording 99 tackles and 8 sacks in his career. That may not sound like a whole lot, but as a DT, their job is to be disruptive, and that’s exactly what he did. With a non stop motor and a blue collar type work ethic, Miller has everything you want out of a defensive lineman.

The DL as a whole didnt have a great season in 2010, but Miller was one of the few DL that stood out and showed real promise in his second season in the NFL, first year as a starter. With 48 tackles, 33 of them being solo, Miller is showing that he can be a dominate force at the NT position.

I believe that Miller can take his game to another level. Right now, Miller is playing around 310. I would like to see him get his weight between 295 and 300. If you look at his college film, you will see that he is leaner and is extremely quick for someone his size. He shows that he still has the raw strength even at a lighter weight, and at times, I actually believed he was a DE by how much acceleration and agility he showed.

A rotation of McCoy, Price, and Miller along with Clayborn and Bowers, is going to give offenses headaches on who to double team and run away from.

Don’t be surprised if Miller has a 60 to 70 tackle season and about 5 sacks. Hes entering his third season and has shown significant progress from each of his last two seasons. If Tampa gets production like this out of Miller, it will mean that the defense is well on its way to being dominate again.