What Roy Miller adds to the Kansas City Chiefs defense

With the addition of Roy Miller, the Kansas City Chiefs have further addressed their (in)ability to stop the run along the defensive front.

Despite the solid defensive numbers and incredible amount of takeaways last year, the Kansas City Chiefs still ended the year with some serious holes to address in the defense. The biggest was undoubtedly their inability to stop the run. One look at Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell versus the Chiefs in the playoffs shows what others saw all year long—a weakness up front compared to previous seasons.

Hence the reason the Chiefs essentially made a trade (in free agency), letting Dontari Poe leave for the Atlanta Falcons and signing former Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Bennie Logan. Logan’s reputation as a better run defender made sense for the next season despite Poe’s popularity with the fans.

Now the Chiefs have added to that defensive line by signing former Jacksonville Jaguar Roy Miller. We recently asked Luke Sims of Black & Teal, our Jaguars site on the FanSided network, to tell us more about what we should expect from Miller’s addition to the Chiefs.

The Chiefs struggled against the run last year and the word on Miller is that is his strength. True?

Miller’s strength is in run defense. He draws blocks and makes room for other players to get the tackles. The pass rushing defensive tackles get all the attention from the media and the fans, but it’s guys like Miller who can be stout against the run that get the attention from the opposing offensive line. He has been a pleasure to watch as a run-stuffer over the last four seasons.

Coming off an injury, should the Chiefs be concerned about a return to form or would you trust him to be fine?

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Miller says he’s healthy and he was surprised he was let go by the Jaguars. Take him at his word until proven otherwise. While I’m optimistic that Miller can be fully recovered and be a force back on the field, Achilles tendon tears can be debilitating. I wouldn’t be comfortable saying that he’ll be 100 percent in this coming season, but I think that he can ease it back in and get back to form over time.

Why did the Jags let him walk?

There is a young defensive tackle that everyone following the NFL should get to know. His name is Abry Jones. Jones came in after Miller went down with the Achilles tear and he was absolutely brilliant. Jones had all of two starts to his name prior to 2016 and his emergence as a dominant run-stuffing defensive tackle was one of the few pleasant surprises during the 2016 Jacksonville season. Jones earned a new contract and he earned the starting spot. Miller is good but after three and a half seasons of performance compared to what Jones delivered in nine games, the Jaguars were comfortable moving him out of the way to make room for Jones.

Becoming expendable is never great for anybody in any profession. The good news for the Chiefs is that Miller is still a good defensive tackle and will give them his all. The injury and Jones’ emergence was purely bad timing for Miller. Before 2016 he was talking with the team about a big extension, after 2016 he was out of a job. It’s a tough break.

Anything else Chiefs fans should know about Miller?

The Jags fans were blessed to have Miller. He made Jacksonville his home and invested in the Duval community. Engaging with fans in person and active on Twitter, Miller felt like a fan to all the rest of us. He loves playing football and isn’t afraid to share that love with the fans and the community. I’m envious of Chiefs fans because they’re going to have Miller interacting with them more than he’ll interact with us now.

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