The Chicago Bears made a bold move to slide back into the second round in order to draft wide receiver Anthony Miller. And with Miller in the fold, the Bears plan on bringing him along slowly to make sure he’s ready to roll when things matter the most.
First-year head coach Matt Nagy said Miller was limited to individual drills on the first day of rookie minicamp, but there is no reason to rush a player projected to be an impact receiver back into the mix at this point of the offseason training program.
“What we’re doing with him is just get going with his feet and kind of get the pace going. We’re not going to rush him into anything,” Nagy explained during his meeting with the media on Friday. “We want to make sure he’s doing everything as far as individual drills. He can go in and go full-speed right now … it’s big for us to get him going mentally.”
Miller suffered a foot fracture that kept him out of the Senior Bowl and limited what he could do at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. And even though we’re a few months removed from that event, Nagy insists on a patient approach regarding his top receiver prospect.
The Memphis product caught 96 passes for 1,462 yards and 18 touchdowns last season, and the Bears believe he can be a playmaker who lines up inside the slot and outside the numbers. Considering Miller’s potential, it should come as no surprise that the team will continue to play it cautiously right now with Miller and anyone else who might have any injury concerns.
“When you get on the turf, you just want to be smart so we’re in no rush to do anything with any of these guys that have any type of situations where we want to be cautious,” Nagy said. “There’s no rush right now for anybody really.”