Does Miller have the surest hands of any TE in the NFL?

[Steelerdipwad]

Stats from last year:

Top 10 tight ends in receptions:

1. Clark 100
2. Witten 94
3. Gonzalez 83
4. Gates 79
5. Davis 78
6. Winslow 77
7. H. Miller 76
8. Celek 76
9. Z. Miller 66
10. Olson 60

% of balls caught when targetted:

1. H. Miller 77.5%
2. Clark 75.8%
3. Witten 75.2%
4. Gates 69.2%
5. Celek 67.9%
6. Z. Miller 66.0%
7. Gonzalez 61.5%
8. Winslow 60.6%
9. Davis 60.4%
10. Olson 55.6%

Yards per catch:

1. Gates 14.6
2. Celek 12.8
3. Davis 12.4
4. Z. Miller 12.2
5. Winslow 11.5
6. Clark 11.1
7. Wittne 11.0
8. Gonzalez 10.4
8. H. Miller 10.4
10 Olson 10.2

Yards after catch per reception:

1. Gates 6.5
2. H. Miller 5.5
2. Celek 5.5
2. Z. Miller 5.5
5. Clark 4.9
6. Witten 4.3
7. Davis 4.2
8. Wunslow 3.2
9. Olson 3.0
10. Gonzalez 2.5

Touchdowns:

1. Davis 13
2. Clark 10
3. Gates 8
3. Celek 8
3. Olson 8
6. Gonzalez 6
6. H. Miller 6
8. Winslow 5
9. Z. Miller 3
10. Witten 2

[Finnegans Wake]

I would say, just from anecdotal observation, that Heat seems to be one of the most sure-handed TEs in the league, but I'd need more than 1 year of stats to back that up.

Also, if he were targeted more (a la Clark or Witten), wouldn't he draw more attention from defenders and see at least a slight dip in catch%?

It will be interesting to see how the passing game evolves, with the speedy youngsters (Wallace, Sanders, Brown) taking the mid- to long routes, and the vets (Ward, Heat, Randle El) taking the short to mid- routes.

[Finnegans Wake]

BTW, Sanders is a bit slight (186#) but has 4.41 speed and was rated the #4 receiver on Mayock's board.  All the analysts talk about how good he is in the slot, over the middle, but I wouldn't mind having him in sort of the Wallace role from last year.  But my impression is that if we do use him over the middle, he's a quick catch-and-go kind of guy, he just turns it upfield and zip. 

Antonio Brown looks like the same sort of receiver, to me.

[otismalibu]

Who cares if he can catch? He's clearly not a Matchup Nightmare.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1007/nfl.tight.end.matchup.nightmares/content.1.html

[pensodyssey]

Miller catches everything that hits his hands. 

Unfortunately, it's the ones that hit his chest that's the problem.

[jonzr]

Who cares if he can catch? He's clearly not a Matchup Nightmare.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1007/nfl.tight.end.matchup.nightmares/content.1.html

So, he's top  10 or better in every stat that matters but he's not a Matchup Nightmare?  Guess that makes him the #1 Overlooked Tight End or the #1 Underrated Tight End in the NF of L's.

[Big Virgil]

It seemed like last year he dropped a lot more passes than usual.  I'd guess that his prior years numbers are somewhat better, statistically.