Ventrell Miller’s path to a starting job with the Jaguars has been anything but smooth, but 2026 is finally set up to give him a real shot.
The former fourth-round pick is expected to step into the weakside linebacker role after Devin Lloyd left for Carolina in free agency, and the timing matters. Miller is entering the final season of his rookie deal, a four-year, $4,576,936 contract, which makes this a defining year for him and his future in Jacksonville.
That opportunity comes after a college career and an NFL start that both took plenty of detours. Miller had the kind of production and instincts that NFL teams wanted, but evaluators had real concerns about his frame and injury history.
He measured 5-foot-11¾ and 232 pounds, putting him in just the sixth percentile for height and the 22nd percentile for weight. On top of that, he dealt with biceps, hamstring and multiple foot injuries before the Jaguars took him with the 121st pick in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Jacksonville was one of 13 players drafted by the team that year, and Miller came off the board after Anton Harrison, Brenton Strange and Tank Bigsby. Harrison and Strange have since received contract extensions with the Jaguars, while Bigsby was shipped to Philadelphia last year. Two picks after Miller, Antonio Johnson and Parker Washington are also in the final year of their rookie contracts.
Miller’s background traces back to Kathleen High School in Lakeland, a program with a notable linebacker pipeline. The school’s best-known name is Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, and Miller is one of only three linebackers from Kathleen to reach the NFL, along with Albert McClennan. Lewis and McClennan were teammates on the Ravens’ Super Bowl 47 title team in 2012.
His college career at Florida had its own rough start. During his first season, Miller and multiple teammates were suspended for the entire 2017 season because of a fraud scheme.
Once he returned, though, he started to build real momentum. In 2018, he played in all 13 games and posted 15 tackles, one sack and an interception he returned 82 yards for a touchdown.
He followed that with 55 tackles and three sacks in 2019, then broke out in 2020 with 88 total tackles, 3.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss.
In 2021, Miller’s season ended early when he tore his biceps tendon in Week 2 against South Florida. Because he played in fewer than 30 percent of the team’s games, he received a medical redshirt and came back for one more year. That final season was played through a broken foot, but he still appeared in nine games and was Florida’s best defensive player, finishing with 74 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and semifinalist honors for Comeback Player of the Year.
His pro career didn’t get off to a clean start either. Miller ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the preseason of his rookie year and missed the entire 2023 season, suffering the injury in Jacksonville’s preseason win over the Miami Dolphins. He returned in 2024 and played in 15 games with nine starts, then appeared in all 17 games in 2025 but started only two as Devin Lloyd put together a breakout season.
Miller did notch his first NFL interception on Dec. 14, 2025, against the New York Jets, picking off Brady Cook.
Now, with Lloyd gone and a starting job in front of him, Miller has a chance to show he can be more than a depth piece. The Jaguars need him to hold down that linebacker spot, and he needs 2026 to set up the next contract of his career.
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