Fantasy Football Today - fantasy football rankings, cheatsheets, and information
A Fantasy Football Community!




 Log In  | Sign Up  |  Contact      






NFL Draft Profile – RB Kendre Miller



By Doug Orth | 4/16/23 |


Kendre Miller

Vitals


College: TCU
Height/Weight: 5'11"/215
Hands: 9 3/8"
Age: 21 (at the time of the 2023 season opener)


Important NFL Combine Numbers

40-Yard Dash: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
3-Cone: N/A

College Production (Stats)

High-end NFL Player Comp(s): Dameon Pierce
Low-end NFL Player Comp(s): Damien Harris

Best Scheme Fit: Probably a better fit for a gap-scheme running game in the pros but executed plenty of zone-blocking runs in college.

Best Team Fit(s): Bengals, Chargers, Cowboys, Buccaneers, Titans, Seahawks, Patriots, Giants

Non-bolded times - Good examples of attribute
Bolded times - Average/poor examples of attribute

Position-Specific Attributes and Grades (2022)
Attribute Att Grade Scale Examples
Burst/Explosiveness 7.5 10.0

0:08, 0:25, 0:28, 0:38, 0:41, 1:15, 1:40, 2:34
1:14

Contact Balance 10.0 10.0

0:38, 1:15, 1:33, 1:54, 2:10, 2:40, 3:47, 3:56
2:49

Instincts/Patience/Vision 7.5 10.0

0:28, 0:48, 1:14, 1:40, 1:54, 2:41, 3:25, 3:30
0:41, 1:06, 1:32, 1:44, 2:08, 3:40

Power/Tackle-Breaking Ability 9.0 10.0

0:49, 1:15, 1:54, 1:56, 3:01, 3:15, 3:56
0:37, 1:19, 2:49, 3:40

Quickness/Elusiveness 8.0 10.0

0:10, 0:41, 1:20, 1:40, 1:54, 2:34, 3:47, 4:06
0:09, 3:17

Route-Running/Hands 7.0 10.0

1:54, 2:14, 2:23, 3:04, 3:27
0:21, 1:17

Ball Security 4.0 6.0 2:33
Pass Protection 3.5 6.0

1:07, 1:30, 5:41
1:38, 9:46

Durability 3.0 4.0  
Long Speed 2.5 4.0 0:38, 1:15, 1:40, 2:34, 2:42
Film Grade 62.0 80.0

Pre-Draft Fantasy Prospect Grade* (out of 50): 38.5

* - How well does his skill set carry over to the fantasy game? For running backs, a player needs to be a three-down option as well as a realistic threat for 1,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards to be a candidate for a perfect grade. Positional scarcity at the pro level is also a part of the equation.

Positives

Miller runs exceptionally well behind his pads, consistently churning out more yards than he should get between the tackles. His ability to stay on his feet is almost cat-like at times. Arm tackle attempts rarely affect him. Miller usually creates the contact and rarely seems to absorb it. The former three-star recruit's leg drive and leg strength are remarkable. It is one of the reasons that when he is not trampling defenders, he is often shedding them. (It helps explain how he forced a missed tackle on 70 of his 224 rush attempts last season and finished with 816 yards after contact, per Pro Football Focus.) Miller runs like Frank Gore at times, consistently showing the ability to accelerate upfield despite working through narrow lanes. He accomplishes this largely because he is rarely out of control, which allows him to avoid doing too much with a cut or a juke and continue along his path. The Horned Frogs did not need Miller to do much in the passing game (16 catches in 2022), but there is enough evidence of him handling throws away from his frame to believe he is more than capable as a receiver. His spatial awareness - while present as a runner - really seemed to jump out on screen and check-down plays, resulting in a handful of long third-down conversions.

Negatives

On one hand, most of his work in college came in the most congested areas of the field, which should speak volumes about how overcame that to be so productive in 2022. On the other hand, so many of his runs were between the tackles that evaluators have limited access to him running concepts such as outside zone. (TCU gave him more opportunities to get on the perimeter as the season progressed, however.) Miller occasionally seems to enjoy winning the physical battle so much that he turns down opportunities for an easier path, which could set him up for injury issues down the road. On several occasions, it appears as though he is so used to running inside that he prepares for contact before clearing the offensive line, leading to him running into his blockers. For as powerful as he is, there were also too many times when he failed to convert near the goal line. Miller's instincts, patience and vision seem to run hot-and-cold, especially on any runs outside the tackles. While not exactly a one-gear runner, the first-team All-Big 12 selection rarely displayed the ability to pull away from defenders and gets caught from behind too often. He also fumbled six times on 361 career carries.

Bottom Line

Miller should not be a tough evaluation, but he is. TCU's offense did not ask him to do much more than run up the A-gap for the first half of the 2022 season. He handled it well though, to say the least. He may possess the best contact balance of any running back in this draft class, which should serve him well at the next level. He also works well in space, which makes it somewhat confounding that the Horned Frogs did not give him more work in the screen game or as a check-down option.

While he does not seek contact as much as Dameon Pierce did in college, Miller runs a lot like the Florida alum and projects similarly to the NFL. At worst, he lands with a play-caller who lacks creativity (and/or relies simply on what he saw Miller do in college) and uses him in the same way Damien Harris was utilized most of his time in New England. Miller's ability to run off-tackle or on the perimeter is not a strength or a weakness at this point; it is more of an unknown. His lack of comfort doing it at TCU could have easily been a product of him not doing it very much. His spatial awareness suggests that could be the case. While it would not be surprising if he ends up being a three-down option at some point early in his career, the likelihood is that he will spend much of his rookie season serving as an early-down thumper and goal-line back. There is upside for more, however. He is a strong candidate to rival the rookie-year success Pierce enjoyed if he can find the same kind of situation Pierce fell into last season.

---

Predict the top ten picks of the NFL Draft for a chance to win $100 and FFToday prizes. Enter our NFL Draft Contest now.


Doug Orth has written for FF Today since 2006 and been featured in USA TODAY's Fantasy Football Preview magazine since 2010. He is also a high-stakes player who often appears as a guest analyst on a number of national sports radio shows, such as Sirius XM’s “Fantasy Drive." Doug is also a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.




NFL Draft Contest