Another quarterback came off the market this morning when the New England Patriots traded QB Joe Milton III to the Dallas Cowboys for a late-round pick swap. While some have speculated that the Pittsburgh Steelers had interest in him, FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz is now reporting that they indeed interest throughout the trade process.
“My understanding is since Joe Milton became available at the start of the offseason, teams that showed interest included the Raiders, Eagles, Giants, Steelers and the Cowboys,” Schultz wrote on X. “The Patriots had a better offer for Milton but chose to send him where he wanted out of respect for him, per source.”
The latest report was that the Patriots were looking for a third-round pick in return. They ended up getting a compensatory fifth-round pick and had to also fork over one of their seventh-round picks in return. This is a relatively low-risk deal that the Steelers probably could have swung, but it’s also important to remember that the Steelers already have the third-worst draft value in the league for the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.
I personally don’t see Milton as a potential starter. In three years of going to the Senior Bowl, he had by far the roughest performance of any quarterback I’ve seen there. He has intriguing tools with tons of athleticism and an absolute cannon for an arm, but his accuracy and anticipation are all over the place.
Milton was selected in the sixth round of last year’s draft, so it’s not a bad return for the Patriots, especially with Drake Maye already on the roster. He appeared in one game last season and completed 22 of his 29 attempts for 241 yards and a touchdown with 10 rushing attempts for 16 yards and a touchdown. It appears that Week 18 performance against the Buffalo Bills turned enough heads to give him a decent trade market.
He could have made a decent QB3 on the depth chart, one for the Steelers to take a swing on developing, but now he will be donning the star in Dallas.
