I don't really, either. I mean, I think it is just a product of hype (4.40 guy out of Miami, popular sleeper as a rookie... and even more popular the next year) meeting opportunity. He's on an up and coming offense with an improving offensive line and he's only got an injured 5th round rookie and an undrafted second year guy pushing him for touches. On the face of it, he seems golden. I like the situation a lot, too, but I'm just not sold on Miller. And no matter how much the coaching staff claims they are, I haven't seen it from them. They let Reggie Bush hold Miller to 51 carries as a rookie. They gave Daniel Thomas 7 carries/game vs. Miller's 11 carries/game the next year. Then last year they were going to give Moreno the job over him (24 caries vs 11 in week 1). And even after the Moreno injury it took a crazy week 17 game to get him over the 1000 yard milestone.I rode this train last year and it went nowhere.
He looked much more comfy this preseason.
I don't get the love for Lamar Miller. I assume he won some FF titles with his nice week 15 game and his 178 yard game in week 16 so there's a shine on him. Before that he was a 700 yard RB that gets 12 carries per game.
12 carries for 50ish yards was quite regular and would make me consider Damien again.
Damien Williams likely (or at least very possibly) would've been drafted higher than Miller if he hadn't gotten kicked off his college team. He ran a 4.45 forty at the combine at 222 lbs and already possessed great receiving skills. When watching his highlights, keep in mind his listed weight in college was 208.
To me, he's a really cheap lottery ticket. He'll get his chance to shine as it seems unlikely that Miller will get 80%+ of the snaps/touches* and Williams was already ahead of Ajayi before the injury that'll keep him out six weeks. Should Miller falter or get injured, Williams and his three down ability could really shine in this offense. If he earns some coaching staff confidence, he could even provide value in the meantime as a third down back or goal line vulture since he's bigger than Miller.
Just randomly checked the last few weeks snap counts from 2014 and week 14 Miller got 60% (Thomas 21%, Williams 19%), week 15 Miller 54% (Williams 26%, Thomas 21%), week 16 Miller 74% (Williams 24%, Thomas DNP), week 17 Miller 69% (Williams 14%, Thomas 17%). I don't know how you guys feel about Lamichael James, but I doubt he gets very many snaps.
Hard to read very much into the preseason play. In weeks 2 and 3, both Williams (10/33) and Miller (9/27) had underwhelming rushing stats.