Dawgs By Nature
Some media members continue to pump up QB Joe Milton. Would the Browns be willing to take a chance?
The NFL can be a strange place if you are a quarterback.
Play well enough in college to be a high draft pick, and even if you are unable to sustain that same level as a pro, numerous opportunities can still be found with teams believing they will be the ones to “unlock the potential,” no matter how many years you’ve kicked around.
Sometimes, the best course of action, oddly enough, is to play so little that you remain a mystery, one so tempting that a team may be willing to bring you on board to compete for a starting role.
That appears to be what is currently playing out with New England Patriots quarterback Joe Milton III, a sixth-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft who played in one game last season - a Week 18 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
Milton’s numbers from the game are admirable - 22-of-29 for 241 yards, one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown, no sacks or turnovers - in what was a meaningless game for the Bills.
That game tape has apparently been enough to get the bandwagon rolling that the Patriots, who have Drake Maye as their starter and signed Josh Dobbs in free agency, would be open to trading Milton for the right price.
In the past week, several hosts across numerous programs at Sirius/XM NFL Radio have been arguing that teams should be willing to give up a third-round pick for Milton. One recent morning during The Opening Drive, the idea was even floated that Milton would be the No. 1 quarterback on the board if he were in this year’s NFL Draft.
All that for a player who, remember, was a sixth-round pick who came into the league with a powerful arm but also a “lack of time, accuracy, and touch,” according to his draft profile at NFL.com.
Such talk is balanced out a bit by Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, who threw some cold water on the idea of the Patriots getting a team to pony up such a high draft pick for Milton this week:
“I’d be pretty stunned if any team gave up a top-100 selection for him.
“Sure, he looked good in the Patriots’ Week 18 game against the Buffalo Bills’ backups. But that alone isn’t going to supersede the six years of evidence from college that put him in the sixth round last year. He wasn’t the answer for either Michigan or Tennessee, winning and then losing the starting job for the Wolverines in 2020, then having to wait until ’23 to start for the Volunteers. Both programs, for what it’s worth, surged after his departure.
“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have potential. He did show some in the Buffalo game, so I could see someone taking a flyer on him for a Day 3 pick. Hard to see much...
