It took time, but Miller is finally catching on
Converted quarterback pleases coaches with continued improvement at receiver
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Catching passes in stride on a sunsplashed morning, everything is clicking for Braxton Miller.
His route-running is textbook. His pass-catching fundamentals are on point. And Miller no longer looks out of place or uncomfortable lined up outside the hash marks as a wide receiver.
The converted quarterback and former Ohio State star needed the past few years to absorb the nuances of a complex position.
How to catch the football properly.
How to sell a pass pattern with a head fake or other body language.
How to throw a block. How to avoid being bumped out of his path by a bigger defensive back or linebacker.
And how to adapt on the fly to all of the sudden change that defines a football game.
Instead of running a huddle and operating from the pocket, Miller is living in an entirely different world as an NFL wide receiver.
The fact that it took a few years to really learn how to play wide receiver isn’t surprising for the former Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He has been soaking up knowledge from All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins since the Texans drafted him in the third round three years ago.
“It wasn’t easy, to be honest with you,” Miller said following a training camp practice. “I dug deep. I learned from the guys around me. Watching DeAndre helped me improve my game a lot.
“I want to be on top of my game. I’m having fun. I feel great. I know what I’m doing. I’m not thinking too much. I’m getting the job done.”
Simply being one of the Texans’ best all-around athletes isn’t enough to make Miller a finished product as a wide receiver.
Although he began playing wide receiver for the Buckeyes, it still took time for him to go from being a neophyte to progress to this more advanced level of expertise as a professional athlete.
That isn’t to say that Miller has it all figured out now, but the Texans have seen a ton of progress from the Springfield, Ohio, native.
“He’s come a long ways in the years he’s been here,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “He’s going to have to go out there and continue to get better and improve, but I do see a lot of improvement with him. He’s gotten better at knowledge of the offense. He’s a better route-runner.
“He’s a versatile guy. He can do some different things. His skillset, his size, his ability to run downfield routes, run underneath routes. I think his hands have improved. He’s definitely a guy that can do a little bit of everything.”
Miller has made a strong case that he should no longer be regarded as a bubble candidate on the Texans’ roster.
Miller has had an encouraging camp and offseason, displaying versatility and more consistent hands.
‘Asking a lot of questions’
Miller makes it a point to quiz Hopkins if he doesn’t understand something well enough.
“He’s always asking a lot of questions, he’s always trying to improve,” Hopkins said. “I feel like he knows his game can be better, but I feel like everybody in that locker room feels like their game can be better, not just Braxton
“If you’re an athlete, you’re an athlete. Ball skills, ball skills. So, it’s not that hard, honestly. What’s hard is probably learning defenses. Making plays, if you can play at this professional level, you can play a lot of positions.”
Miller has also been more durable after battling injuries each of his first two NFL seasons.
Entering the third year of the Miller experiment, the light is starting to click on. And he’s having fun playing receiver.
“I love it,” Miller said. “I’m just working to perfect my craft. I love playing inside or outside. I can do any position. It feels great knowing I can run any route at any given time. I’m working on the things that really matter.”
Miller had a career-long 57yard reception against the Tennessee Titans and had four catches for a career-high 71 yards before leaving the game with a concussion last season.
He finished the year with a career-high 19 catches for 162 yards and one touchdown and has 57 career receptions for 261 yards and two scores.
Miller is lining up at several positions, not just the slot receiver spot.
“I think the biggest thing to me is you can tell he’s more comfortable with our system and with his assignments, and because of that, he’s playing faster,” said Texans quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan, Miller’s former position coach. “To me, he’s playing faster on the snap of the ball and it’s noticeable.
“I think he’s really catching the ball well. He had a couple catches that were outside the framework of his body that he went up and stabbed. So, I think he’s really improving.”
Entering the third season of a four-year, $3.11 million contract, Miller faces a challenge for the slot receiver job from rookie wide receiver Keke Coutee, who is sidelined for a few weeks with a strained hamstring.
Miller has a laid-back, quiet personality. He doesn’t exude any stress about the competition with Coutee.
“I just play, man,” Miller said. “You play this game to have fun and that’s what I do. The rest takes care of itself.”
Miller is no longer just a slot wide receiver. He lines up at several positions.
Embracing his role
That’s another change for Miller, who says he never felt like a true slot receiver.
“Braxton has done a good job embracing his role,” Texans receivers coach John Perry said. “The skillset diversity that we have, he’s that guy that we can plug and play at multiple positions. You see him at times in the slot, you see him outside on the perimeter. He’ll catch balls down the field. He’s caught some intermediate routes. He’s continuing to develop.”
Miller had always been an ultra-productive player in college regardless of where he lined up.
He finished his Buckeyes career with 8,609 yards of total offense on 5,295 passing yards and 3,314 rushing yards and 52 touchdowns.
Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson says he wouldn’t have been capable of making the move to receiver that Miller is in the process of doing.
“I couldn’t,” Watson said. “It’s a tough transition. It might seem easy for a lot of people and myself might think it’s easy, but trying to go to a different position at this level is hard.”
How is Miller pulling off this tough task? A lot of it goes back to how he moves and how he sees the game. From his old vantage point of being under center to now splitting outside, Miller is a smart guy who knows how to react to changing strategies.
“He’s a guy that understands defenses, that was one of the biggest things,” Watson said. “Of course, he played quarterback in college and then transferring from quarterback to receiver in the NFL is a big step.
“He never played it before, but this offseason, he really recognized what the defense is doing and it helped him out with his routes. Very, very good instincts. Once he can recognize something, he knows where to go with his position, the spacing with the route, and we find him with the ball.”
Miller doesn’t lack for motivation. He has plenty of that in supply. He wants to continue to set an example for his 6-year-old son Landon, a budding flag football player.
“God blessed me with a beautiful son,” Miller said. “I come out here with faith and I do everything for him.”