Jan 5, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Joe Milton III (19) runs against the Buffalo Bills during the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images / Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
The Las Vegas Raiders really, really need a quarterback.
On Friday, Boston Globe Senior NFL writer Ben Volin tweeted on X, formerly Twitter, "A former Patriots asst coach said to me this week in Indy: 'If you're the Raiders, why not trade a third round pick for Joe Milton?' Milton only makes $960k in 2025. And this coach, no longer in NE, considers Milton "the 2nd most talented QB available" behind Stafford".
Milton was the Patriots' sixth-round selection in 2024 out of Tennessee, formerly Michigan. At 6-foot-5, 246 pounds, Milton's raw arm talent were among the best in a draft class full of good quarterback talent -- particularly the latter. His other physical gifts were eye-opening, too.
As ESPN's Mike Reiss wrote, the reason the Patriots drafted Milton after taking Drake Maye in the first five picks of the draft was for a competitive, strong quarterback room. Per Reiss, Green Bay Packers GM Brian Gutekunst outlined a team's chances of developing just one good quarterback out of those in the room.
"The amount that is on that guy's plate -- pre-snap to post-snap and everything that goes into it, the amount of information he has to process in such a limited amount of time, all the leadership stuff, the intangible stuff, it's just an exceptionally hard position to play," he said. "There is a certain amount of athletic gifts and talent you have to have, and there is so much more beyond that. The thing that I think is lost at times is how much of it has to be developed over time. You never really know until you have that time to try to develop a guy, whether he's going to be able to do it at a high level or not."
That certainly played a factor in Milton's drafting, too.
Now, Milton is an intriguing trade piece for not just the contract, but the strong tools. The Raiders don't seem intent on rolling with Aidan O'Connell and have fished elsewhere for veterans, such as Matthew Stafford and Sam Darnold.
Darnold would fetch a pretty penny, though. With Milton, the Raiders potentially have a cheap option with the ability to outperform expectations. That is contingent on Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly's ability to coach him up, however.
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