Houston Texans running back Lamar Miller is the consensus veteran to be upgraded. Even though the 28-year-old earned his first Pro Bowl in 2018, armchair general managers seem to want to get rid of Miller and bring in more playmaking options.
However, grades from Pro Football Focus suggest that part of the reason Miller has played at a pedestrian level in his career is because he has never had anything about a top-20 offensive line to run behind.
Not many veteran starting running backs had a more tenuous grasp on their starting job coming out of the 2018 season than Miller, who hasn’t been bad by any means over his Houston tenure, but hasn’t been anything like what was expected. How much of that is on Miller, though? He hasn’t been on a team with a PFF run-blocking grade of even 70.0 since his 51-carry rookie season in 2012, and the numbers have steadily fallen off as a Texan.
The author, Daniel Kelley, contends that if the Texans really thought Miller was the problem, they would have used one of their picks in the top-100 to transition away from Miller. Instead, they drafted two offensive linemen. Even though they are bodyguards for quarterback Deshaun Watson, offensive tackles Tytus Howard and Max Scharping can be bullies for Miller, too.
There are cases where the back makes the line, and other instances where the line makes the back. 2019 will reveal which one of those categories Miller falls in. If his lone Pro Bowl appearance from last season is to be considered, then Miller may benefit from a better offensive line after all.
