5 Things to Know About New Detroit Lions OT Blake Miller

On Thursday, the NFL Draft saw the usual chaos, with the twists and turns seeing Ty Simpson go in the top 15 to the Los Angeles Rams, along with the Chiefs and Cowboys joining Los Angeles in making trades.

However, almost surprisingly, the Detroit Lions and Brad Holmes stood pat, letting the board fall as it may.

The Lions had their options of Miller, Caleb Lomu, Monroe Freeling and Max Iheanachor among the offensive tackles. Ultimately, they selected Miller.

Here are five things to know about the Tiger-turned-Lion.

Iron man streak

Miller missed one career practice in four years with the Clemson Tigers. The All-ACC selection started all 54 career games in his career, and was at every practice besides one during his time in the orange and purple.

When asked about his one career missed practice at the NFL Scouting Combine in February, he revealed it was to undergo surgery for a broken bone in his wrist.

Clemson record setter

From the start of his recruitment, the Ohio native was committed to Clemson. Miller was the first commit in the class, committing in October 2020 as a class of 2022 product.

He set the career record for snaps played with 3,778. Miller started every game of his career, from his true freshman season to his senior day. The fear of letting his teammates down and himself down pushed Miller to succeed every day.

His 54 career starts and 52 starts at right tackle are also Clemson records. For those wondering, his pair of non-right tackle starts was at left tackle. He was only the third Clemson player since 1944 to start his first career game as a true freshman offensive lineman.

Better yet, Miller did all this with the Tigers and enters the league at only 22 years old.

Wrestling background

Miller got his start in the weight room at under 10 years old, and took that strength to carry himself to an Ohio Athletic Committee State Championship in 2012. In fact, that match is on YouTube to this day.

He also ran track at Strongville High School in Ohio, while also setting multiple records in the weight room.

High end athleticism

The scouting report on Miller centers around his reliability and “high floor,” but it overlooks the athleticism that the right tackle showcased in the leadup to the draft.

The former Freshman All-American ranks No. 17 out of 1645 tackle prospects to undergo athletic measuring since 1987, with a relative athletic score of 9.90. In previous years, Brad Holmes and the scouting department have stated that they do not pay attention to the RAS of a player.

While that may be true, this selection does not help dissuade the motion that Holmes is, in fact, watching the scores.

Familiar player comparison

When NFL Draft Analyst Todd McShay wrote his player comparison for Blake Miller, it seemed scripted for Miller to become the next Detroit Lion. McShay’s pro player comparison for the right tackle was longtime stalwart at left tackle for the Detroit Lions Taylor Decker.

While Decker was the left tackle and Miller at right (although he stated openness to playing left tackle at the NFL Combine), McShay took note of their power, experience, and grit. He also noted Miller had higher athletic scores.

“Decker is a left tackle, while Miller is a plug-and-play right tackle,” McShay noted, “but both are relentless and have good power, experience, toughness, and size. It’s worth noting that Miller has longer arms and tested better at his combine.”

Add us as a preferred source on Google