Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Roy Miller negotiations stall

Per top beat writer Stephen F. Holden of the Tampa Bay Times, talks between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 25-year-old defensive tackle Roy Miller have “broken off”. The former Texas Longhorns standout is set to be a free agent this offseason, and it seems like Miller and the Buccaneers haven’t been making any progress in negotiations over the course of the month.

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Last season, Miller never recorded a sack or a hit on the quarterback, and the Pro Football Focus tagged him with just five hurries last year. While his forte is as a run-stopper, Miller was still just average in that regard in PFF’s rankings. The site did not rank him in their top ten among interior DLs heading into free agency, and that’s a testament to Miller’s well below-average pass rushing. He actually improved by leaps and bounds from his performance in 2011, but that’s only because he didn’t even manage to do anything as a run-stopper that year.

It seems like Miller is overvaluing himself, and that’s probably the reason why the Bucs and the young DT’s negotiations are, as Holder puts it, “seemingly falling apart”. At this point in time, it sounds highly unlikely that the Buccaneers will bring back Roy Miller in 2013, and his poor production last season shows that the team might not feel too much of an impact.

Star Gerald McCoy and solid DTs Gary Gibson and Corvey Irvin played much better than Miller last season, and I highly doubt Miller will have many options in free agency either due to his lack of scheme-versatility. He can play the run about average and batted one pass last season, but his lack of interior pass rushing ability makes him a definite liability as a starter.

Despite this, his agent Mike McCartney told the Times, “Roy is excited to see what’s out there for him in free agency.”

With the way negotiations are going for him, we can only hope so for his sake.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter for more NFL updates @SorianoJoe.