Simms' DT draft rankings: No. 2 Christen Miller
Chris Simms and Connor Rogers dive into Christen Miller's background at Georgia, where at a deceiving 321 pounds, possesses a tough play style that could be better than any DT in the class.
Video Transcript
The, the next three guys we have in tier two I think are all first round picks.
I, I, I for me, again, when, when you're talking about a bunch of guys where I go, "Wait, they're 6'4", 320 pounds and they move like this?"
Like, there's like limited people on planet Earth that are like that.
Right.
And they're gonna be valued by the NFL.
And yeah, so we start out with number two with Christian Miller of Georgia.
I knew nothing about him.
Nothing.
So I was like, "I, I don't know what this guy looks like."
This is the one game he wore his guardian cap.
I think it's the Florida game.
I don't know what happened in the game before, but I remember turning it on and going, "What the hell?
His head got bigger."
The Ramon Dallas.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, that's what I always think of.
Exactly.
But, but, one, as you know, I always write something about their body to start with.
And it, this another guy where I just went, "Man, impressive looking body," like put together.
Almost doesn't look 321 pounds because it's not sloppy at all.
It's big, muscular arms, great legs, powerful legs that also say athlete, too.
If you told me he was a 290-pound DN, I would believe it.
Right?
I mean, he kinda has that look.
It's a little different than- It is that, that, that little, you know, little fat around the middle with Caden McDonald that you usually see- Yeah with the defensive tackle.
Taller and longer.
Taller and longer.
Christian Miller.
33-inch arms.
Exactly.
Almost 6'4".
And if there's one negative, he can maybe play a little more upright than some of the other guys.
That is out, naturally.
Right?
That's probably his biggest negative.
But man, here's Let, let me start because it starts with, wow, this is not just some run stopper like McDonald from Ohio State.
This kid is really disruptive, too.
And then I wrote, "He can do it all."
I mean, again, like McDonald, I go, "This is a shade nose.
He can play nose tackle, and he's athletic enough to be a three technique for me."
I mean, he is.
I love, and I think he is the king in this, in this depish- department, I think Christian Miller plays harder than any D tackle in the draft.
I mean, I love his play style.
He sells out.
He plays as hard as hell, harder than any other D tackle I wrote, and he goes for it.
He goes for it, and he sells out to make plays.
He jumps in front of the train like I talk about.
The Dallas Zack guy, yep.
Right?
You know, he'll be like this, like this, and blocked, and the ball's here, and he'll spin around and just go, "Ah, screw it.
I'm gonna jump in front of him" .
And like, I, I just That's what it takes.
That's what the special ones do.
And then the good off is good.
Maybe not quite as good as McDonald, but he does get off the ball.
'Cause he's just higher.
He's higher.
That's, that's why.
That's, that's- Yeah.
There's no doubt.
And then, you know, for 321, of course, we talk about the, the quicks, the lateral movement again to make guards or centers miss in pass protection, or even just to, "Oh, wait, I got blocked, and now I gotta slide down the line of scrimmage to make a block in the run game," or stu- sta- stunts in the pass game.
I mean, that's where you just go, I mean, he's not only this big run stopper where you go, "He can be an elite two gapper."
You go, "He's an F the play up guy, too."
And so when you look at that, he, he's got the upright stuff, but it's not like to where you look at it and go, "Oh, that's a big negative."
Yeah, he can learn to play a little lower, and he's athletic enough to make me think he can, and you see that.
But he doesn't lose, and he wins a lot, and of course creates a lot of havoc.
He, he is great at getting off blocks.
He has great awareness.
He is a great all-around football player.
He can really push the pocket as a pass rusher.
When he gets his arms extended, it's over.
Anybody that he gets like this on a pass game, run game, it's done.
He's winning, and he never loses.
And I wrote, again here, I wrote, "Top 20, top 25 pick."
I don't know.
I mean, you're 6'4", you're 321, your arms are like that, and you move that way- Right and dominate people in the SEC, yeah, I think you're going in the top 20, 25 picks.
I wrote down- Yeah stack and shed artist.
Yeah.
Like, he just And Georgia, not shocking, him and Michael Williams are extremely close.
Right.
the you know, they He, he said he kinda learned how to prepare from him and did everything with him.
The two guys, there's a third one, and I hate that it's slipping my mind though, that were known around that building as, like, always there first, always there last.
Gotcha.
Him- Yeah Zachariah Branch.
Okay.
And I forget who the third one is, so I apologize about that.
All right.
But he has that kind of reputation.
Oh, that's good to know.
He was the guy at the combine this year that me and Joshua are sitting, waiting for our next interview.
You could hear him 25 feet away just having the time of his life.
Oh, so he's got a little personality to him.
Oh, like, he never stops.
Yeah.
And, and it kind of fits how he plays.
Well, that, that's right.
It's like it never takes a play off.
Yeah.
He's just loves life, loves working.
Love it.
Loves football.
It shows.
You can't Another guy, like, it's just hard to miss with a guy like this because he's technically sound, he's athletically gifted.
No doubt.
I want you to guess where he is on the consensus board, because I think this is arguably- the most underrated player in the NFL draft.
So obviously it's low.
I have no idea.
You know I don't look at crap like this.
Yep.
And the fact that you're saying that, I, I mean- It's not egregious, but it's way too low.
It's mid-second, late second?
Yeah, 47th.
Yeah, that's crazy.
That's crazy.
I just can't.
I, I have a hard time Again- Yeah we l- to use our all The, there's been defensive tackles that have been drafted in the top- Right 20 or 25 the last few years where I'd go, "They're not as good as Christian Miller.
There're no way."
A- and yeah.
And so, and so I don't know what happens sometimes to And I think with some of these guys, right?
And I've l- I've learned this, having this conversation with other draft pundits and people through the years, where they don't realize sometimes with a D tackle, like, their job is here just to hold the guy up.
Especially at Georgia.
Exactly, and they're hel- they give him a negative.
And I w- I, I've had this conversation with people like, "What'd you see in this guy?
Why did you knew he was that?"
I was going, "Well, he was doing what he was told to do, and he was doing it at a high level.
And just because he's standing there doesn't mean he decided to stand there.
No, they told him, like you talked about, 'Make a mosh pit.
Hold this guy up.'"
And I do feel like at times some of the draft pundits go, "Oh, that was a negative.
He didn't disrupt.
He didn't do anything."
Where I wanna go, "No, no.
They have two people trying to block him, and he's just holding them there.
That's elite plus, plus, plus."
And I think sometimes that's where that gets messed up in translation as well.
So let me ask you this.
Yeah.
Last year- Yeah we had five defensive tackles go in the first round.
Yeah, okay.
Mason Graham.
Right.
Kenneth Grant, they both went top 15.
Okay.
Walter Nolan went 16th.
Okay.
Derek Harmon went 21st.
And Tyleik Williams went 28th.
Okay, so that's what I'm saying.
But how many of those guys is he better than?
You said one guy that's better than him.
There you go.
You said the, the guy from Michigan.
Mason Graham.
Mason Graham.
Other than that, I'm not putting anybody in front of Christian Miller out of that group right there.
Nobody.
And I liked all those guys.
Right.
I did.
The only guy I was in love with was Walter Nolan from Ole Miss.
Right.
He wouldn't have been in that He'd been a little below that group of guys to me.
But regardless, yes, my point is, is that Christian Miller to me is a better player, he's a safer player, and he's got really more inside versatility than a lot of the guys we just talked about there, yeah.
So I don't, I don't get that.
And to me, this'll be one where if he's not drafted in the first round, w- I'll be yelling at the screen at somebody going, "You guys are idiots for not drafting this guy"
