Pittsburgh Steelers Re-Sign Of Heath Miller Good Move

Nov 17, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Heath Miller (83) runs after a pass reception against Detroit Lions strong safety Don Carey (rear) during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. The Pittsburgh Steelers won 37-27. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Pittsburgh Steelers Heath Miller is not only a favorite target for Ben Roethlisberger, but also with the citizens of Steeler Nation.  From the sounds of it both of those parties should be pleased with the news coming out of the South Side.

Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (how I loathe using this man as a source), Tweeted over the lunch hour that the Steelers have restructured Heath Miller’s contract to free up cap space.  Now that can only be half true because this is the final season of Miller’s contract.  So he is either taking an outright pay cut, or the Steelers have extended his contract beyond the 2014 season.  There was no time left in his contract to defer money to subsequent seasons (which is the definition of restructuring a contract), so they must have extended it, and that’s what Rapoport meant in his tweet.

If the Steelers extended the veteran tight end, that bodes well for the state of the offense.  Miller, prior to his knee injury in 2012, was a huge part of the success of the offense and favorited target for Big Ben.  Miller’s post injury recovery came at a good clip, but he certainly was not targeted as much, and only came on late in the season.  The nine year vet and 2012 team MVP is poised to only go up from where he was last season.  A contract extension allows for Miller to stick around and help groom his replacement, who could be drafted as early as the team’s first pick in this year’s draft.

I’m glad the Steelers were able to get this deal out of the way, and hopefully as the details unfold, we will learn that it did not come at a huge cost.  Miller was going to cost the team almost $9 million in cap, and a new deal could get that lowered by a couple of million.

Congrats Heath to a new deal and many more years (hopefully) in hearing your name ring loudly throughout NFL stadiums across the country. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaath!!!!!