FRISCO, Texas – After hinting at a potential move at the league’s annual meetings in Palm Beach, the Cowboys made their third trade of the offseason on Thursday, acquiring former New England Patriots quarterback Joe Milton III and a 2025 seventh-round pick in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick.The move, while not official, is being reported by various outlets, including NFL.com.
Milton, 25, was drafted by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, serving as the third string quarterback behind Drake Maye and Jacoby Brissett in New England.
In Week 18, Milton played in and started the first game of his career against the Buffalo Bills and led the Patriots to a 23-16 win. He completed 22 of his 29 passing attempts for 241 yards and touchdown and added 10 carries for 16 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Milton’s collegiate career began at Michigan, where he spent the first three years of his collegiate career primarily in a backup role. In the 2020 COVID season, he started five of the Wolverine’s six games before entering the transfer portal.
Tennessee was Milton’s next landing spot for the next three years, starting all 12 games for the Volunteers in the 2023 season. That year, he completed 64.5% of his passes for 2,769 yards and 20 touchdowns compared to just five interceptions, with an additional 292 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.
With the acquisition of Milton, the Cowboys bring in a young quarterback that has wow-ed everyone with his cannon of an arm, which some consider to be among the strongest in the league.
Cowboys COO and co-owner Stephen Jones was asked about Dallas’ vacancy at the backup quarterback spot earlier this week, and had this to say about what the team was looking for:
“I think we look at the full package, you’re probably not going to get all things just right or exactly what you want, but at the same time you want to get the very best guy that we think gives us the best chance to go out and compete with [Will] Grier and be good in that room with Dak and Grier and whoever else we add.” Jones said.
Dallas has accomplished their goal of getting younger at the quarterback position and will once again look to develop a quarterback behind Prescott via a trade, similar to when the team acquired Trey Lance for a fourth-round pick in 2023.
With just one NFL game under his belt, there’ll be work to do for his development, but Milton has plenty of upside and athletic ability for the Cowboys to work with.
