While the 2025 NFL season will mark just the sixth year since the Raiders relocated to Las Vegas, only four players remain from the franchise's days in Oakland: Maxx Crosby, Kolton Miller, A.J. Cole and Daniel Carlson.
After extending Crosby early in the offseason on a record-setting deal, the Raiders got a bit of concerning news a week before before the NFL Draft. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported that Miller was unhappy with his contract situation and would not report to the team's voluntary offseason program.
Fortunately, this uneasy period did not last long, as Miller reported to Phase 2 of the team's offseason program just days after the draft. While the new brass still has not reached a resolution with the team's longtime starting left tackle, Miller is in the building and an active participant.
PFF's Kolton Miller ranking proves Raiders need to act quickly
As they do every year during the peak of the NFL offseason, Pro Football Focus' Zoltán Buday released his list of the top offensive tackles in the league. Miller landed at No. 12, placing him firmly in the upper echelon of pass protectors.
"Miller endured a rough start to his 2024 season. After surrendering four sacks in each of the previous two seasons, the UCLA product gave up six over the first four games," Buday wrote. "However, his play improved, and he let up only two more sacks the rest of the way. He finished with an 82.2 PFF pass-blocking grade, the third-best mark of his career, and ranked 11th among all offensive tackles in 2024."
While this is certainly a glowing -- and deserved -- review of Miller, it makes the Raiders' issue a bit more pressing. The more notoriety that Miller gets around the league, the more pressure that the fan base will put on new general manager John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll to get a deal done.
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The biggest issue for Miller is that he has no guaranteed money left on his deal, and if the Raiders do not extend him, he will hit the open market next year. His market value is currently $19.7 million, according to Spotrac, and there are surely a handful of teams who would pay him that.
Las Vegas has ample cap space, not just this year, but over the next several seasons. At Miller's age, a long-term extension like the one that Crosby or A.J. Cole recently signed is not in the cards, but a two or three-year deal could be right in the sweet spot.
Spytek did draft Charles Grant in the third round of this year's draft, and he could be the eventual replacement to Miller for the Raiders. However, it will take him some time to tap into his potential, and the Silver and Black need their veteran to hold it down for now while also helping develop the future.