Coming into this season, Miami Dolphins running back Lamar Miller was expected to do big things for fantasy football owners. The 2012 fourth-rounder has improved every season he's been in the league and finally topped 1,000 yards rushing in 2014 to go along with eight touchdowns. As a result, fantasy owners were salivating at the mouth for his next leap in production.
But Joe Philbin seemed hell bent on stifling his own running game this year before being fired after the team's Week 4 loss to the New York Jets. In those first four games, Miller was averaging just nine carries per week despite above average run blocking from Miami's offensive line. It was a head-scratcher for sure.
Interim head coach Dan Campbell has immediately flipped the script and started feeding Miller early and often. For those bold fantasy owners that stuck with Miller, your faith was rewarded in full as the running back has racked up 288 rushing yards on 33 carries (8.7 YPC!) and two touchdowns over the last two weeks. He's also caught five passes for 66 yards and an additional score.
For those of you wondering if this is an impressive blip on the radar or a sign of things to come, ESPN Fantasy Insider Eric Karabell takes a look at Miller's ceiling going forward.
"A week ago I stopped just a bit short of exalting an AFC East running back into top-10 status - then it was New York Jets bruiser Chris Ivory, quiet on Sunday - but Miller is someone I really liked entering this season, and he takes the top-10 spot [Arian] Foster was occupying," Karabell wrote. "Yes, I prefer Miller to Ivory, for myriad reasons. The speedy Miller is devastating in open space, as evidenced by his two electrifying touchdowns as he torched the Texans for 35 first-half fantasy points and finished with 236 total yards, and the Dolphins have figured out he needs the ball more with effective downfield blocking. It's not so simple to explain Miller's slow September as a lack of touches or poor coaching but regardless, he's now one of the 10 best running backs in fantasy, with little competition for touches."
Overall, Miller has rushed for 419 yards and two touchdowns on a 6.0 YPC average and has caught 15 passes for 153 yards and one score. That puts him just outside the top ten depending on what your league's scoring format is. But with Foster and Jamaal Charles done for the year and Adrian Peterson struggling, Miller has top ten upside the rest of the way.
