Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith expects Braxton Miller to make an "exponential" leap in Year Two. To make said leap, the young receiver is getting in the ear of new offensive assistant Wes Welker, one of the best slot wideouts of this millennium.
"The role he played is the type of role I'm playing in this offense," Miller said Wednesday, via the team's official website. "So it's a great opportunity for me to learn from one of the greatest slot players to play the game. Especially in this type of system."
The Texans hired Welker as an offensive/special teams assistant coach this offseason. His experience working with coach Bill O'Brien's offense from their time together in New England makes Welker especially insightful to young receivers. The former slot star has been working with receivers coach John Perry to try and help raise a developing wideout corps.
No receiver on the Texans' roster has more room to grow than Miller, a former quarterback at Ohio State who continues to learn the nuances of route running.
"I'm always in his ear, bugging him, as you can see after practice," Miller said of Welker. "I was just asking him all types of questions. What did he see? What did I do wrong today? After every play, he's always correcting what I did wrong. Then I just go out there on the next play and fix it."
As a rookie, Miller played in 10 games, starting six, and earned just 15 catches for 99 yards and one touchdown.
Whether Deshaun Watson or Tom Savage earns the starting quarterback job, Miller understands he'll have to be a bigger part of the offense behind DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller for the team to thrive.
"Just being consistent," Miller said of how he plans to improve. "Every time you come on the field, you're going to get the same guy every day."
Getting in Wes Welker's ear every day can only help breed that consistency.
