3 Tight Ends Who Can Outperform Their Fantasy Football Draft Cost

Heath Miller, Pittsburgh Steelers

As a native of Pittsburgh, I’ve watched nearly every one of Heath Miller’s games for the last 10 years or so, and all biases aside, he is one of the most complete tight ends in the game. He is not an overly athletic player, but in 2014, at age 32, Miller caught 66 passes (the second-highest total in his last five seasons).

Miller was middling according to our metrics, finishing eighth in Reception NEP per target among the 17 tight ends with 50 or more catches, but was good enough to place above both Jimmy Graham and Martellus Bennett. Miller is also an extremely reliable pass-catcher, finishing fourth in catch rate among the same subset of tight ends.

The obvious downside with Miller is that he has caught just four touchdowns over the last two seasons combined.

The Steelers finished 26th in the league in percentage of red zone passing touchdowns to tight ends (15%), well below the league average (27%). Pittsburgh also added Sammie Coates to go along with red-zone maven Martavis Bryant, making it difficult to envision a major boost in usage for Miller in 2015.

But in a PPR league, were the importance on touchdowns is somewhat dampened, Miller provides an excellent late-round pick or streaming option on a team that looks to be primed for a big offensive season. Miller is a way to get extremely cheap exposure to the Pittsburgh offense.