Seattle Seahawks tight end Zach Miller spent the majority of training camp on the physically unable to perform list recovering from a foot injury but he will get a chance for a preseason tune-up before the regular season begins on Sept. 8.
Miller will play for the Seahawks on Thursday night in the team’s preseason finale against the Oakland Raiders.
Miller tore his plantar fascia on the third play of last January’s playoff game with the Atlanta Falcons. After a trip to the locker room for treatment, Miller returned to the game and posted his most productive performance of the season with eight catches for 142 yards and a touchdown. After getting past the plantar fascia injury, Miller suffered another ailment to the same foot that Miller and head coach Pete Carroll say was unrelated to the injury from January.
It forced the team to place Miller on the PUP list until he returned to practice last week. Miller wanted to play in the final preseason game but Carroll had been hesitant. Instead, the coach had been targeting the regular season opener for Miller to play. But after seeing Miller in practice for two weeks, Carroll said Miller is ready.
“He looked great and there’s no reason not to,” Carroll said. “He’s full go. He’s practiced great and he’s really tuned into it too so it’s the right thing to do.”
The return of Miller is a welcome sight for the Seahawks. The four other tight ends on the Seahawks’ 75-man roster have a grand total of four games of NFL experience. Backup Sean McGrath appeared in the team’s final two regular season games and two postseason games last year. Luke Willson, Cooper Helfet and Darren Fells have not appeared in an NFL regular season game.