Blogging The Boys
It’s been a while since Dallas had a QB in camp like Joe Milton III.
The Dallas Cowboys have had numerous notable quarterbacks over the past two decades. But even when they’ve eventually reached the heights of a Tony Romo or Dak Prescott, they came from humble beginnings without much hype going into their first training camp. That’s what makes Joe Milton III so interesting in 2025, arguably the most buzzed-about quarterback that Dallas has taken to Oxnard in a long time.
Having not used more than a fourth-round pick on a QB since 2001 (Quincy Carter, second round), it’s not hard to see why Milton is unusually anticipated. Romo was with the team for several years before finally breaking out. Prescott’s hype train didn’t get rolling until his preseason performances. Other prospects like Cooper Rush, Ben DiNucci, Stephen McGee, and Mike White were just your typical newcomers, generating typical levels of curiosity but not real excitement.
When Dallas signed veteran Drew Bledsoe in 2005, that certainly came with some intrigue. But as a 33-year-old entering his 13th season, Bledsoe was only a short-term solution at best. He didn’t even last as long as his three-year contract, losing the starting job to Romo midway through 2006. Signing Bledsoe was about trying to bring some stability back to the QB position, but with zero upside and limited enthusiasm.
Even when the Cowboys traded a fourth-round pick for Trey Lance in 2023, the hype was mitigated. Many doubted Lance’s potential after flaming out in San Francisco, especially given 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s reputation for working with quarterbacks. There was optimism around Lance’s age and what a new system could do, but there was always that sense of fear that Dallas had wasted a pick to continue someone else’s mistake.
Milton presents a different kind of camp attraction. True, he was just a sixth-round pick last year by New England. But the last time anyone saw him, he was lighting up the field in the Patriots’ 2024 regular-season finale against the Bills. But with New England firmly committed to Drake Maye as their QB going forward, they decided to give Milton a chance to compete elsewhere. They traded him to Dallas for a modest draft profit, obtaining the Cowboys’ fifth-rounder in 2025 in exchange for Milton and a seventh-round pick.
Like Lance, Milton offers tremendous athletic potential and an even better arm. But unlike Dallas’ last QB experiment, Milton is joining the team on an upward trajectory. He showed far better touch and passing instincts in that Buffalo game than he had in the preseason. That may be part of why New England decided to sell high, worried it was a one-game fluke, but it could also indicate that Milton spent those four months putting in the work to improve. In any case, he arrives in Dallas with upward momentum.
The closest thing to the intrigue around Milton this year is what we experienced with Drew Henson in 2004. A highly-regarded QB prospect...
