Blake
Miller.
Blake
Miller.
Clemson· 6'7"· 317 lb· 5.04s 40
"Four-year Clemson starter and 54-game iron man at right tackle — natural power, technician's hand use, and a Round-1 grade riding on whether the middling athletic profile plays up in a bigger role."Pre-draft read
Plays right tackle, prioritizing power in pass protection and gap-scheme run-blocking. He initiates with an inside-hand punch, timed to the rusher's second step, ensuring hands land early. He maintains a wide base, absorbing bull-rush impact without collapsing. In the run game, he drives with hip torque and low pad level, finishing blocks through the whistle.
His kick-slide prioritizes depth and torso control, creating a strong anchor but limiting range against speed rushers. Zone reach blocks are functional but lack fluidity, causing late arrivals to second-level linebackers on plays breaking to the pull side. His signature separator is hand accuracy and reset, landing clean punch replacements when initial strikes are dislodged, preventing secondary moves.
This prospect fits best in a power-blocking, gap-heavy run scheme that prioritizes a strong-side run game and allows his downhill blocking to shine.
He can immediately start at Right Tackle in a power run scheme, with a ceiling to develop into a Pro Bowl caliber anchor on the right side.
His value diminishes significantly in an outside zone-heavy scheme due to his less fluid movement and late climbs to the second level.
Blake Miller's exceptional hand technique and power make him a solid pass protector and a dominant run blocker in gap schemes, despite an unexceptional athletic profile.
Blake Miller College Football Highlights💥 | Clemson Tackle
Game film cut-up of Blake Miller's Clemson tape.
Blake Miller Highlights | Clemson Offensive Tackle
Game film cut-up of Blake Miller's Clemson tape.
Film Room: Clemson RT Blake Miller Vs Miami
Game film cut-up of Blake Miller's Clemson tape.
Miller projects as a plug-and-play right tackle, offering teams a durable presence with a power-first approach to the position. His consistent hand technique and strong anchor against power rushes are the hallmarks of his game, providing a reliable foundation for pass protection. Teams are buying his proven physical strength and technical proficiency to immediately contribute along the offensive line.
He was a four-year starter, appearing in 54 consecutive games at right tackle and logging 3,778 offensive snaps against ACC competition. This extensive experience provided a robust evaluative base, demonstrating his role in multiple offensive schemes throughout his college career. Despite a middling 6.73 RAS at the Combine, his on-field production and availability stood out.
A key focus during the draft process was whether his movement ceiling limited him to right tackle or if a transition to left tackle was feasible. Boards varied, with some projecting him late in the first round and others in the early second, largely debating the translation of his athletic profile versus the undeniable tape. Ultimately, he was drafted 17th overall by the Detroit Lions, who valued his technique and durability.
- 01
Iron-man durability
54 consecutive starts at right tackle, most in Clemson history at any non-specialist position, and a program-record 3,778 offensive snaps across four ACC seasons.
- 02
Elite functional strength
displaces defensive ends on gap and duo blocks with a jolt through the hips and heavy hands, finishing on top of defenders through the whistle.
- 03
Repeatable hand technique
timed, inside-hand-first punch on kick-slide sets that resets the rusher's plane and denies the corner without lunging or over-extending the frame.
- 04
Anchor versus power
34 1/4" arms and 32 bench reps show up on tape as a stacked base against bull rushes; deep sets almost never collapse into the quarterback's lap.
- 05
Football character and communication
captain-tier voice in Clemson's OL room, clean pass-off on stunts and games, and a low-penalty profile across an ACC-heavy schedule.
- 01
Middling athletic profile
5.04 forty, 32-inch vertical, 9'5" broad and no three-cone/shuttle attempt at the Combine produced a 6.73 RAS, well below the elite-tackle threshold on paper.
- 02
Reach and range questions
climbs to second-level linebackers on outside zone arrive late, and the recovery arc versus true speed rushers thins when he loses the corner on the first step.
- 03
Occasional waist-bend
lunges into his punch versus pure speed on the edge, losing his frame and leaving the outside shoulder exposed against 5- and 7-technique width.
- 04
Limited counter package
beaten cleanly on inside spin and punch-and-swipe by more polished ACC edges, and the second-hand reset is slower than the initial punch suggests.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.04sp50
- Vertical
- 32inp50
- Broad jump
- 113inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 32repp50
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Clemson | 14 |
| 2023 | Clemson | 13 |
| 2024 | Clemson | 14 |
| 2025 | Clemson | 13 |
| Career | — | 54 |
Merged from verified season/game stat tables; Sports-Reference remains the preferred source when reachable.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Four-year college starter, plus hand technique and anchor, RT-first pro career with quiet Pro Bowl-level tape when healthy.
Ceiling comp on power-plus-technique RT with kick-tackle scheme flex; if the movement plays up, this is the outcome the Lions bought.
Durable, technique-first RT-only starter with a capped athletic ceiling — a long, useful career without approaching left-tackle viability.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
**Pre-draft context.** Miller was a top-125 recruit out of Strongsville, Ohio who bypassed home-state offers for Clemson in the 2022 class and never left the field. Fourteen starts as a true freshman earned him Freshman All-American honors; thirteen more as a sophomore, fourteen as a junior and thirteen as a senior stacked into 54 consecutive starts at right tackle — the school record at any non-specialist position — and 3,778 offensive snaps, another program record. He blocked for Cade Klubnik in each of the last three seasons and passed on entering the 2025 draft to return as a senior captain, a decision that hardened his tape without lifting the athletic ceiling. The 2026 Combine produced a 5.04 forty, a 32-inch vertical, a 9'5" broad, 32 bench reps and no three-cone or shuttle, folding into a 6.73 RAS that Chris Pflum (Big Blue View), Kyle Crabbs (A to Z Sports) and Matt Wilson (Trench IQ) all flagged as the projection question — is the movement good enough for LT, or is this a career RT with a real Round-2 grade dressed up in Round-1 clothes?
**NFL fit — Detroit.** The Lions paid pick 17 for tackle insurance behind Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell — a four-year iron man whose length, hand technique and 54-game availability profile fit how the organization has drafted trenches. Miller enters camp as the top swing tackle with a clear path to compete for right-tackle snaps in six-lineman packages and a runway to succeed Decker on the blindside by 2027. Detroit's bet is that the punch-first pass sets and the durability floor hold up faster than the athletic profile suggests, and that four years of ACC pass-pro reps against Klubnik-caliber quarterbacking translate to protecting Jared Goff in a play-action-heavy scheme.
**What to watch (2026 season).** The evaluation lives or dies on two questions: whether the pass-set depth holds against NFL speed-to-power on an island, and whether the second-level reach improves enough to survive Detroit's zone-runs off the right side. If Miller answers both, the Round-1 grade the Lions paid for looks correct; if the athletic profile caps him at RT-only with an average recovery arc, he is a good starter drafted at a first-round price rather than a Pro Bowl piece.
Data note: Merged from verified season/game stat tables; Sports-Reference remains the preferred source when reachable.