Raiders 1st round pick Kolton Miller bulks up ahead of 1st NFL training camp

Training camp begins Thursday, and the rookies and some of the other players are already starting to arrive. You can check out the list here of the 29 players that had to report early for the pre-camp warm-up for the rookies, quarterbacks and select others. One of the people on that list is Raiders 1st round pick Kolton Miller, the player pegged as the Left Tackle of the future for the silver and black.

Oakland traded back in the draft to pick number 15 where they grabbed the offensive tackle out of UCLA because of his impressive athleticism. Miller was originally a fringe 1st round/2nd round projected player until he set a record with his broadjump (121 inches) at the NFL combine along with running a 4.95 second 40-yard dash.

One of the biggest worries so far about Kolton Miller was his weight of 309 lbs being low for his 6’9 frame. Even looking at some of the pictures from mini-camp him and fellow rookie 3rd round pick Brandon Parker looked noticeably slim for their impressive heights. They both almost looked more like they could play tight end instead of being on the offensive line.

That won’t continue to be said about Miller when the pictures of training camp start to roll in from the sounds of it. According to Dan Jameson of Syndicate Sports Performance the Raiders first round pick has already gained 12 lbs to be up to 321 lbs as of last week.

“Kolton’s put good weight on,” Jameson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It’s not ‘dad bod.’ It’s not all around his waist. It’s in his shoulders. It’s in his arms. It’s in his back. … Kolton’s ready. Kolton’s ready to learn. He’s ready to handle his business. He’s ready to just be a sponge and take it all in and be the best he can be.

“There ain’t no tougher position than left tackle or right tackle, whatever it is, in the AFC West. There ain’t a day off. For six games, you get the cream of the crop. Kolton will be absolutely, 100 percent ready for training camp. No doubt. No doubt at all.”

The collective bargaining agreement limits how much the players can do in the off-season at the facilities with the team so it’s on themselves to make sure to do what they need to do for strength training. That appears to have not been a problem for Kolton Miller though, adding a dozen pounds that quickly shows he was working hard to get ready for his first NFL training camp.

That type of commitment to excellence is music to the Raiders ears, and now Miller is going to get to start his work for real with the Raiders strength and conditioning staff which is led by Tom Shaw. Though Shaw had some time to work with Miller in the off-season, now he gets to take the governor off and go full speed with the rookie. That is an exciting proposition considering how far Miller has already come with his weight in just the few months since being drafted.