When OTAs – or Organized Team Activities – began, veterans of the Las Vegas Raiders showed up in bunches despite the period being optional. That includes Maxx Crosby, A.J. Cole, Malcolm Koonce, Geno Smith, Jakorian Bennett and Jakobi Meyers, just to name a few. Who it did not include, however, was star left tackle Kolton Miller.
That’s because he’s seeking a new contract, as ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on Wednesday.
It’s plenty understandable, too. Miller, who began his ’24 campaign nursing a shoulder injury, currently stands as the 13th-highest paid left tackle in the NFL annually. The 29-year-old is currently in the last year of his contract with no guaranteed money left on the table.
Does the Raiders’ 15th-overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft deserve a pay day, though?
Well, if you’re basing your answer on his performance last season, that depends which part of the season you’re looking at. From Weeks 1-4, Miller looked worse than, well, any singular offensive lineman in the National Football League, at any position.
During his first month of football this past year, Miller was responsible for six sacks. For perspective, no player in the entirety of the NFL allowed more than four sacks through the season’s first four weeks, aside from Kolton Miller. Only seven tackles league-wide allowed more pressures than the seventh-year Raider, too.
If this is the stretch you’re looking at, the answer is clear as day; no, Miller does not deserve a pay day.
However, if you’re looking at Week 5 onward, once Miller found his stride after recovering from his shoulder injury, you’ll get a much different answer.
Kolton Miller finishes 2024 campaign with Raiders in dominant fashion – Deserving of pay day?
From Weeks 1-4, Miller was responsible for six sacks; two more than any other offensive lineman league-wide. Through his next 13 contests, Week 5 and beyond, the UCLA alum allowed one total sack.
65 tackles alone allowed their quarterback to be sacked more times than Miller in this timespan.
With an 84.6 pass-blocking grade via Pro Football Focus from Weeks 5-13, Miller ranked 10th at his position in this category. As a run-blocker, Las Vegas’ left tackle also shined, finishing with the 15th-highest grade among all tackles (76.1).
Impressive, right? Much more so after his blatantly terrible start to the 2024 season.
In two separate weeks, during the Raiders’ Week 6 and Week 11 contests, Miller finished with the highest pass-block grade among all tackles league-wide. And, just as noteworthy, only two times did Miller finish a game with a pass-blocking grade less than 74.0. That doesn’t include Week 9, where Miller left the game after 13 snaps in total.
Of course, this is the typical production Raider Nation has grown accustomed to from Kolton Miller. Since 2020, the man responsible for setting an NFL Combine record for longest broad jump by an offensive lineman (10’1″) has earned a pass-blocking grade of at least 79.0. Four of those five seasons resulted in an 81-plus grade, even.
And, since 2021, Miller has earned a run-blocking grade of at least 71.0 each season.
So, does Kolton Miller deserve a pay-day in the near future? That’s for Sin City’s general manager John Spytek to decide. If the numbers and analytics mean anything, though, the answer is simple.
Yes.
*Top Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images
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