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LAKE FOREST Brian Burns Jersey , Ill. (AP) — Zach Miller is helping out wherever he can with the Chicago Bears. He is learning how to play the piano after teaching himself how to play guitar in college. He takes his children outside to play football and soccer.In a lot of ways, life is pretty much the same for Miller as it was before he sustained a gruesome left leg injury in a loss at New Orleans . In some ways, it’s completely different.“I’m certain it changed me a little bit,” Miller said Monday on the anniversary of the horrific play. “Perseverance, I’ve always felt I’ve had that, but this is just on another level. Patience for sure, sitting there for six months and your foot won’t move and you’re trying to move it, it teaches you a little bit of patience and I guess just the will to keep on fighting.“Ton of positive things that I’ve gained out of this thing, and that’s just the way I look at it, opposed to all the negative stuff I suppose you could take with it.”One year ago, Miller nearly lost his leg after he got hurt on a potential touchdown reception against the Saints. The veteran tight end dislocated his knee and tore an artery, but was walking on his own by late December.The 34-year-old Miller had the last of nine surgeries for the injury in January. He is talking about running again and keeping open the possibility of returning to the field, but he isn’t sure how he would assess his progress.“I don’t know if I’m ahead or behind because I don’t know the blueprint of this thing,” he said. “I’m very happy where I’m at. Just throughout it, I’ve made goals just to see if I could attain them. I hit ’em and I feel good where I’m at physically.“I’ve been able to get back in the weight room and start doing some things that at least feel like I’m getting stronger and make me feel better. But I still have a long ways to go and I understand that challenge and I’m willing to accept it.”Miller signed a futures contract with Chicago at the end of the 2013 season. After spending 2014 on injured reserve, he started 28 of 33 games while making 101 receptions for 1,161 yards and 11 touchdowns the past three years. He also spent three seasons with Jacksonville.He signed a one-year deal with the Bears in June http://www.panthersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-greg-little-jersey , and the team placed him on the physically unable to perform list. While he rehabs his leg, Miller is helping the team by watching video and offering his perspective whenever anyone needs any help.“Zach is one of my favorite people I’ve been around in a long time,” first-year Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “I absolutely love the kid. He’s somebody that we feel very fortunate and lucky to have be a part of this family and this organization. The times that we get together and we talk, I mean just such a happy-go-lucky guy, good, good person.”Miller said he is enjoying his role with the team, but isn’t sure if he wants to get into coaching. He’s focused on seeing how far he can go with his rehab.Same goes for the anniversary of his injury.“I don’t want to say this was a year ago. I made it through one year already. This isn’t we’re looking back at that,” he said. “We’re looking at kind of where I am now.” NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Grading any draft can be challenging, and snap judgments after the last pick usually are far too optimistic.Yes, Music City couldn’t keep the rain away from opening night. Still, closing off both the honky-tonk district and throwing out the welcome mat at the Tennessee Titans‘ stadium a short walk across a river allowed Nashville to turn the NFL draft into a football and music festival that drew rave reviews.“To this point, hard not to give Nashville an A-plus for this draft,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s senior vice president of events.Philadelphia drew a record 250,000 fans over the three days of the 2017 draft, and the NFL also has taken this event to Chicago and Dallas since deciding to leave Radio Music City Hall in New York City. Nashville Will Grier Jersey , which first offered up a 55,000-square foot ballroom back in 2011 for the annual draft, simply smashed that attendance mark with about 600,000 over three days.“It’s a testament to Titans fans, to NFL fans globally who’ve just embraced this draft concept …, and it’s a testament to Nashville,” O’Reilly said.Butch Spyridon, president and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, sent that first email to the NFL back in 2011 and worked with Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk to land this event last May.“Far outkicked our coverage, our dreams, our thoughts,” Spyridon said. “Way bigger than anything we could’ve imagined.”Nashville rewrote how to host the draft itself, starting with a six-story tall stage, with several city blocks shut off to traffic. That freed fans to walk in and out of honky tonks while waiting for the next pick. A house band also played beside the stage between selections — a touch O’Reilly says likely will be a staple of future drafts.At the stadium, fans could run a 40-yard dash, kick a football, get autographs from former and current NFL players http://www.panthersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-christian-miller-jersey , or simply listen to music. All free except for souvenirs, food and drink; even parking at the stadium and nearby state government lots had no charge.Country star Tim McGraw performed for more than an hour to cap Friday night’s festivities, while Dierks Bentley was on tap for another free concert on the main draft stage to finish off festivities.Las Vegas, next year’s host, had representatives on hand studying what Nashville did, and 12 other markets had people here for tips to improve their own bids to host: Carolina, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Seattle.Nashville had some complaints, and Spyridon says this has been a learning experience dealing with each issue as quickly as possible. Nashville police made five arrests Thursday and another five Friday for public intoxication Jordan Scarlett Jersey , including Houston Texans tight end Ryan Griffin for punching out a window at a hotel late Friday night.Music City even hosted a marathon Saturday morning.Paul McMeekin of Omaha, Nebraska, ran the half-marathon and didn’t notice that Nashville also was hosting the draft until about two weeks ago. He said that explained the higher Airbnb rates. He and his wife, Kelly, stopped by the draft both Thursday and Friday, and he had one word to sum up the atmosphere.“Electric,” McMeekin said.Keith Coes wore his Vikings helmet and jersey and attended all three days. A Minnesota native who moved to Nashville in 1975 said he booed Goodell on Thursday night, then got a picture with the commissioner Friday. Coes said Music City showed the country what it does best.“Nashville’s a party town,” Coes said.Titans general manager Jon Robinson said the turnout was unbelievable, and seeing all the fans on Broadway is why he wore a hat that had “RSPCT NSHVL” when he summed up Tennessee’s draft.“I think there’s a respect factor that comes with this city and this state now because we lived up to the hype,” Robinson said.Goodell already has been asked dozens of times when Nashville will host the draft again. The lack of a domed stadium makes hosting a Super Bowl a moot point for at least the next decade.“I heard a couple cities even discuss maybe pulling their bids, that they don’t think they can top this,” Spyridon said. “I think there’s a new expectation and a new bar, and I’m happy for Nashville to have set that, and let somebody else worry about following up.”