With Donald Penn soon to be back in the mix, Kolton Miller has his work cut out to be the Raiders starting left tackle this year.
For now at least, it looks like the Raiders don’t intend to give Miller a year at right tackle as third-round pick Brandon Parker seems to be the plan over there.
The good news for both rookie tackles is that despite a sharp learning curve, both seem to be learning quickly.
“There are obviously rookie mistakes and the occasional beating by Bruce Irvin in team drills,” Vic Tafur said in a Wednesday column for The Athletic, “but Miller and Parker are fast learners.”
And this little nugget on Miller was missed – by me at least. He played high school football with the son of a prominent name in the Raiders scouting department.
Raiders were very familiar with their first-round pick, OT Kolton Miller (No. 77). One of his high school teammates was son of Dave Razzano, Raiders’ director of football research. pic.twitter.com/ZB52t0VJKh
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) May 9, 2018
You never know who is watching, right?
One scenario that would be interesting to see is Miller somehow keeping up with Penn in the preseason.
The Raiders stand to save a lot of money ($5.3M in cap room) by releasing Penn – but, man, that would be a huge risk. Two rookies starting at the tackles in the AFC West?
Gruden would have to stock up on his blood pressure medication before signing off on that idea – and same for Derek Carr on his premium health insurance.
twitter: @raidersbeat
I would be completely blown away if they release Penn. I’d give it about a 99% chance that Penn is still on the team and starting at LT for the entire 2018 season.
My guess is that the plan will be to sit Miller behind Penn for a year, while getting him into some games at times, to simply get his feet wet. If he looks strong in his limited role, then I can see them releasing Penn before the 2019 season and save themselves 10.5mil.
Right tackle is a whole different story. On the right side, I would bet it will be an open competition between about 6 guys (Giamini, Parker, Alexander, Kirkland, Sharp and Ware.
If none of them step up, then I can see them shifting Miller to the right side.
I would be completely blown away if they release Penn. I’d give it about a 99% chance that Penn is still on the team and starting at LT for the entire 2018 season.
My guess is that the plan will be to sit Miller behind Penn for a year, while getting him into some games at times, to simply get his feet wet. If he looks strong in his limited role, then I can see them releasing Penn before the 2019 season and save themselves 10.5mil.
Right tackle is a whole different story. On the right side, I would bet it will be an open competition between about 6 guys (Giamini, Parker, Alexander, Kirkland, Sharp and Ware.
If none of them step up, then I can see them shifting Miller to the right side.
Vic Tafur has a lot of good info and insights but that doesn’t mean you can believe everything he says. Remember “Jihad Ward is the real deal” in 2016 and pimping the great safety Jerome Boyd for a roster spot a few years earlier
good that Brandon Parker is learning quickly. I only watched a little film but he sure looked raw vs Grambling last year. He is quick and athletic though but he played real high based and got knocked off balance
Is Jylan Ware bulked up any? He looked like he needed an NFL strength program last year. So does Parker