GREEN BAY, Wis. – Toronto Argonauts quarterbacks coach Mike Miller knows a little something about elite quarterback play. From 2007 through 2012, he was an assistant coach for the Arizona Cardinals. In 2009 and 2010, he served as their passing game coordinator. In 2011 and 2012, he was their offensive coordinator.
His quarterback for three seasons?
Hall of Famer Kurt Warner.
So, in regard to new Green Bay Packers quarterback Taylor Elgersma, Miller doesn’t make this comparison lightly.
“I think he’s like Kurt Warner-smart,” Miller told Packers On SI.
Miller also made that comparison to Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie. In Spring 2022, Elgersma was a sophomore at Wilfrid Laurier University and part of the CFL’s Quarterback Internship Program, in which top Canadian quarterbacks get to spend a few weeks participating in CFL training camps.
“I’m actually standing right now in the quarterback meeting room here at Guelph University where we have training camp,” Miller said on Friday. “And now that I know him, typical Taylor, he was already sitting in here with just a spiral notebook and pencil, and I came in and gave him this big playbook and it was me, him and Chad Kelly and Chad’s first year with us.
“There were nuances of this league that I wasn’t really that familiar with because my last trip up here was in 2013 with Montreal, and I had been in the XFL went into colleges and went on defense for a little bit. So, Taylor that first night was giving us shortcuts on how to cheat the protections, secondary indicators, and so that was great.”
While Elgersma was just a college quarterback at the time, Miller treated him as if he were one of the rostered professionals. He took reps during drills, had his play critiqued and was expected to know everyone’s assignment, no different than Kelly, who would emerge as the starter.
“He just joined right in and it was great,” Miller said. “You asked me my first impressions. I think it was on the second night, I told RD (Dinwiddie), ‘Look, I don’t what this kid’s going to be like on the field right now, but this kid’s crazy smart. He goes, ‘Oh, yeah?’ I go, ‘I’m going to say something here, but I feel pretty good about this. I think he’s Kurt Warner-smart.’ And he goes, ‘Really?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ To me personally, that’s the smartest quarterback I’ve ever been with. Every day with Kurt was like a PhD. I said, ‘Yeah, this kid’s special.’”
As a junior in 2023, Elgersma once again had a QB internship with the Argonauts. Miller was impressed with how Elgersma absorbed the coaching and improved over the previous 12 months. Miller predicted Elgersma would be a first-round pick in the CFL Draft.
Or …
“I said this kid’s going to have a legit chance to play Down South, as we say – meaning the NFL,” Miller said.
The #Packers have a fourth quarterback. According to a source, they have signed Canadian star Taylor Elgersma.https://t.co/ijI89VeVO1
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) May 12, 2025
The physical tools are impressive. He’s 6-foot-5 and has elite arm talent. He’s tough, as a former hockey defenseman. “He takes that same mind-set to playing quarterback,” Miller said. He’s grown rapidly, having gone from a first-time quarterback as a 10th-grader to the winner of Canada’s version of the Heisman Trophy in 2024.
The intangibles are just as impressive to Miller. Elgersma comes from a strong family. He has a “passion” for the sport. He’s smart and funny, humble and coachable.
“He just gets it,” Miller said.
So did Warner, who was NFL MVP as a first-year starter and had a decade of playing experience by the time Miller took over as the Cardinals’ passing-game coordinator. Elgersma had only been playing the sport for a handful of years when he met Miller for the first time.
“I’m not saying he’s as smart, but that was the guy that was the first name that popped in my mind when I was comparing him,” Miller said.
Since he was still relatively new to the game, is he a football savant?
“That’s a great question,” Miller said. “In my opinion, there are kids that can play with vision. They just have the vision. They can see it. Some guys can’t see it. And that doesn’t mean physically all the time, either. Some guys have vision block. But you see guys that maybe aren’t as tall, but they still get the ball, they still see the rotation, they see the pressure, they know where their free-access throws are. Are they open?
“So, you take his intellect, combine that with his work ethic, which goes to his detailed preparation, and then his vision. It helps that he’s 6-5 but he just sees it. I told guys, sometimes I’m standing back there at 15 yards, back where the coaches stand, and I can’t see it sometimes. And I joke with them. I say, ‘Well, that’s why I’m back here holding a whistle and you guys are up there holding the football.’”
There are a lot of quarterbacks, many of them taken in the first round, who have the size, intelligence, work ethic and arm talent but are unable to put it all together. Who knows if Elgersma will make the 53-man roster, let alone turn his skills into a long and productive NFL career, but the signs were encouraging as Miller coached his intern quarterback in 2022 and 2023.
“I just think some of that’s just God-given ability,” Miller said. “There’s just some guys that can see it and process it very quickly, which is obviously required, and then they make the according decision. And then you combine that with their physical skills to be able to execute that assignment, and then you further combine that with a special human being that you have in Taylor, then you’ve got something really special.”
As reported by @JDunk12, Taylor Elgersma is having a "follow-up interview" this weekend with the #Packers. Presumably, this will be the final step toward signing a contract. Here's what his coach at @QBCountry had to say about Elgersma.https://t.co/GoCLxtJupJ
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) May 10, 2025