One of retired quarterback Tom Brady‘s favorite Tampa Bay Buccaneers targets will play for one of most-heated rivals.
Former Buccaneers wide receiver Scotty Miller will sign a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers “per source” according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter on May 8. Miller caught numerous key passes from Brady during their time together in Tampa from 2020 to 2022.
Last season, Miller played for the Atlanta Falcons and caught 11 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns in 17 games — a far cry from his Buccaneers days. Miller posted 74 receptions for 924 yards and four touchdowns in 50 regular season games with the Buccaneers between 2019 and 2022.
That included a 48-yard touchdown reception from Brady during the 2020 season, but the biggest moment came in the playoffs. Miller caught a 39-yard pass from Brady in the NFC Championship Game to help beat the Green Bay Packers 31-26 in January 2021. Overall, Miller had nine catches for 126 yards and that touchdown in seven playoff games with the Buccaneers.
“We just go in there and follow his lead,” Miller told reporters about Brady in October 2020. “We know he’s going to get the job done, so we just gotta do what we do and help him out a little bit.”
Miller’s play didn’t stay on par with 2020 and 2021 during his final season with the team in 2022 as Brady and the Buccaneers stumbled to 8-9. Amid Brady’s retirement, Miller left to sign a one-year, $1.23 million deal with the Falcons.
Miller will get to play with another Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Pittsburgh this fall. The Steelers traded for Russell Wilson in the offseason after his two-year stint with the Denver Broncos.
Reliving Scotty Miller’s Biggest Buccaneers Play
With six seconds left in the first half of the 20202 NFC Championship, Brady threw a dart to Miller for a game-changing touchdown and a 21-10 halftime lead. The Buccaneers held on from there in the second half to reach the Super Bowl.
“B.A. [Bruce Arians] wanted to go for it — I liked the call and I’m going to do whatever he asks me to do,” Brady told reporters in January 2021. “Byron [Leftwich] dialed up a great play and we got behind the defense. We had a couple other opportunities, too. Just a great job by Scotty running a great route [and] getting open. I just tried to lay it out there for him to go grab it.”
Scotty Miller: ‘That Was an Awesome Play’
While Miller could rebuild his career and make more big catches in Pittsburgh, he knows how special his biggest play with the Buccaneers was.
“That was an awesome play,” Miller told reporters in January 2021. “The coaches made a great decision going for it there. There was like 15 seconds left. That last play that I scored on, we were going to try to heave it like a Hail Mary type thing.”
“They played me pretty much man-to-man and my guy didn’t get too much depth, so I was able to just run right by him. Then Tom [Brady] put a great ball on me like he always does. It was a special moment. I don’t even know if I could have dreamed of it as a kid. It’s just so crazy. [I’m] just fortunate to be able to make that play.”
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