PHOENIX -- Texans running back Lamar Miller had a good year in 2016, but Fantasy owners were expecting him to be great. As a result, he was a bust.
He was drafted as the No. 6 running back on average last year at No. 12 overall, but he finished as the No. 17 Fantasy running back in standard leagues with 268 carries for 1,073 yards (4.0-yards per carry) and five touchdowns and 31 catches for 188 yards and one touchdown.
Despite his Fantasy failures, Texans coach Bill O’Brien said Tuesday at the NFL owner’s meeting that he was pleased with Miller in 2016.
“I was very, very happy with Lamar Miller,” O’Brien said. “I think of so many things that he did for our team. First of all, he’s a pro. He shows up every day. He works hard. He’s out at practice. He plays hurt. Had a banged up shoulder, banged up ankle and played with it. Tough, tough guy. Doesn’t say a lot. Leads by example. For us in Houston, that’s what we’re looking for. For him, he understands kind of how we operate now -- our offense, our offseason program.
“I’m sure he’s working hard to be in as good of shape as he can be in when he shows up for the offseason program. You can pretty much count on Lamar being there and doing his job day-in and day-out. That’s what I like about him.”
One thing O’Brien wants to do this season is to better manage Miller’s touches so he avoids the nagging injuries, which O’Brien indicated were to his shoulder and ankle. Miller missed the final two games of the regular season because he was hurt, and the Texans also wanted to get him ready for the playoffs.
A knock on Miller when he signed with Houston last season from Miami was that he couldn’t handle a heavy workload, and he had seven games in 2016 with at least 20 carries. He only had two games with at least 20 carries during the first four years of his career with the Dolphins.
O’Brien said it’s on him to make sure he’s not overworking Miller this year.
“We leaned on him a lot,” O’Brien said. “I’ve said this before, we’ve looked hard at that. We know that he’s an important part of our offense, but we also know we need him for 16 games. So we have to be smart about how we use him early in the season, how we use him in training camp, how we use him in the preseason to make sure that he’s available to us. Some things you can’t control, but I think personally I need to do a better job of just making sure that he’s on track for 16 games.”
Fantasy owners might shy away from Miller this season, although he’ll be much better value, likely toward the back end of Round 2 in the majority of leagues. One key for the Texans will be addressing their quarterback situation, which will hopefully improve the offense.
The hope is Houston signs Tony Romo once he’s released in Dallas, but the Texans had an addition by subtraction when they traded away Brock Osweiler to Cleveland. Even if Tom Savage opens the season as the starter that should help the offense, including Miller.
We’ll wait to see what happens with Romo, and hopefully he’s handing off to Miller this year. But Miller should still be considered a good Fantasy running back with the chance to be great.
And by the end of this season, Fantasy owners will speak as glowingly about Miller as O’Brien did.
