Is Heath Miller A Future Hall of Famer?

by Joe Kuzma (joe_kuzma) on February 23, 2016

My regular audience must think I’m off my rocker. First I suggest that Heath Miller may have been forced to retire, now I’m suggesting he might be a Hall of Famer.

Stick with me here.

Heath Miller is without a doubt a Pittsburgh Steeler great and will go down as the team’s greatest tight end to date. However, is Heath one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history?

On Friday, Heath Miller retired as 1 of 12 tight ends with 6,000 or more career receiving yards, but when I dug deeper (and depending on how one wants to classify pre-modern era tight ends) Heath is in good company. In fact, Heath was 11th on that list, with only 4 players ahead of him having been enshrined in Canton: Shannon Sharpe, Ozzie Newsome, Jackie Smith and Kellen Winslow.

Rk		G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD
1	Tony Gonzalez	270	254	2012	1325	15127	11.42	111
2	Jason Witten	207	197	1438	1020	11215	11.00	60
3	Antonio Gates	190	176	1269	844	10644	12.61	104
4	Shannon Sharpe*	204	169	1197	815	10060	12.34	62
5	Harold Carmichael	182	160		590	8985	15.23	79
6	Carroll Dale	189	54		438	8277	18.90	52
7	Ozzie Newsome*	198	191		662	7980	12.05	47
8	Jackie Smith*	210	73		480	7918	16.50	40
9	Pete Retzlaff	132	0		452	7412	16.40	47
10	Kellen Winslow*	109	94		541	6741	12.46	45
11	Heath Miller	168	167	825	592	6569	11.10	45
12	Steve Jordan	176	149	121	498	6307	12.66	28
13	Greg Olsen	142	116	877	542	6292	11.61	49
14	Jeremy Shockey	136	129	884	547	6143	11.23	37
15	Brandon Lloyd	142	91	831	399	5989	15.01	36
16	Todd Christensen	137	90		461	5872	12.74	41
17	Todd Heap	145	131	817	499	5869	11.76	42
18	Vernon Davis	148	140	745	461	5841	12.67	55
19	Mike Ditka*	158	98		427	5812	13.61	43
20	Riley Odoms	153	134		396	5755	14.53	41

* Enshrined in Pro Football Hall of Fame

Obviously, statistics aside (because receiving yards aren’t a measuring stick of overall greatness) this still got me thinking: does Heath deserve a bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

The answer isn’t as easy as yes or no.

When analyzing the data, we can clearly see how the modern era, particularly the last decade or so, has redefined the position. Players such as Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten and Antonio Gates are monsters of their position, putting up video game numbers. So are players such as Rob Gronkowski, who needs less than 500 yards to surpass 6,000 in his career, or Greg Olsen, who already has: both already have more career touchdowns than Miller’s 45.

But then you look at an Ozzie Newsome, Mike Ditka or Kellen Winslow, and while those names truly stand out far more in conversation, for their era, than Heath Miller, Miller scored as many touchdowns as Winslow, but played in 59 more games. That means Heath took 1/3 as long to accumulate similar totals to Winslow, but by the same token, Newsome played 30 more games than Miller, with about 1300 more yards and only 2 more scores.

That would mean an average of 650 yards per season with 1 touchdown, had Heath played 2 more seasons. In his last season, Miller gained 535 yards and scored 2 touchdowns. He only surpassed 650 yards receiving 3 times in 11 seasons, leaving “what ifs” as merely such.

However, it is Miller’s 167 starts that ranks him high above the list, a consistent and durable player during those 11 campaigns, which netted Miller 592 catches, a distinction that drives him further up the totem poll:

Rk		G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD
1	Tony Gonzalez	270	254	2012	1325	15127	111
2	Jason Witten	207	197	1438	1020	11215	60
3	Antonio Gates	190	176	1269	844	10644	104
4	Shannon Sharpe*	204	169	1197	815	10060	62
5	Ozzie Newsome*	198	191		662	7980	47
6	Keith Byars	189	160	428	610	5661	31
7	Heath Miller	168	167	825	592	6569	45
8	Harold Carmichael	182	160		590	8985	79
9	Jeremy Shockey	136	129	884	547	6143	37
10	Greg Olsen	142	116	877	542	6292	49
11	Kellen Winslow*	109	94		541	6741	45
12	Dallas Clark	143	118	776	505	5665	53
13	Frank Wycheck	155	135	740	505	5126	28
14	Todd Heap	145	131	817	499	5869	42
15	Ben Coates	158	114	786	499	5555	50
16	Steve Jordan	176	149	121	498	6307	28
17	Jackie Smith*	210	73		480	7918	40
18	Owen Daniels	131	125	758	479	5661	36
19	Kellen Winslow	105	83	759	469	5236	25
20	Mickey Shuler	180	107		462	5100	37

* Enshrined in Pro Football Hall of Fame

Heath’s totals being 7th most all-time at the time of his retirement furthers his case for Canton, though I feel skeptic that players such as Gonzalez, Gates and even Jason Witten overshadow the national attention on Miller’s accomplishments anywhere outside of Pittsburgh.

Regardless, Steeler fans acknowledge they have seen one of Pittsburgh’s, if not one of the NFL’s, greatest tight ends play the game. And at the end of the day, it’s that appreciation which may eventually echo that a two-time Super Bowl Champion is worth of the game’s greatest title: Hall of Famer.