The Dallas media is sending very mixed signals on where former Vol Joe Milton stands in Cowboys’ QB competition
Former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joe Milton is battling Sam Howell for the Dallas Cowboys’ backup quarterback job in training camp.
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Joe Milton is locked into a battle in training camp with veteran Sam Howell for the Dallas Cowboys’ backup quarterback job.
Milton, who is entering his third season in the NFL, operated as the Cowboys’ backup quarterback last season, but Dallas signed Howell earlier this offseason to serve as competition.
With preseason games set to get underway this week, it’s unclear where the battle stands.
And that’s mostly because of the mixed signals coming from the Dallas media.
105.3 The Fan’s Cory Mageors said recently that he thinks it’ll be Howell who wins the job.
“I think Sam Howell’s making this team,” said Mageors last week. “And it’s because — and again, that was two days into camp that I said that — but I know Joe Milton can make some beautiful throws. It might be the most beautiful throw coming out of his hand — [but] it’s not always going where he wants it to go. And there were a couple of times when I was like, ‘Dude, I still don’t know if he understands the concepts of the offense to be able to pull it off if I need a win.’ And Sam Howell looks like he does. I think you get more consistency out of Sam Howell at the moment.
“You know that that scene from Moneyball where they’re like, ‘He looks great in a pair of jeans.’ That’s Joe Milton. He looks amazing, but I’ve just got to see that [he] can do it. This was the knock on him last year — in the middle of the play, he’s just like, ‘I can outrun everybody,’ and that’s not what they’re asking of you. They know you can outrun everybody. Can you see it downfield? And so I think Sam Howell just making consistent throws is going to be the reason they think he can win a couple games for them if need be.”
The Athletic‘s Jon Machota echoed those sentiments on the Cowboys Collective podcast.
“Sam Howell, to me, is clearly ahead of Joe Milton right now,” said Machota. “If they had to play one game right now, if they have to play two games, whatever — Sam Howell is ahead of Joe Milton.”
Meanwhile, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Nick Harris suggested this weekend that Milton is currently ahead in the competition.
“Joe Milton III has paced the competition so far for the backup quarterback job over Sam Howell,” wrote Harris. “Both signal-callers started camp on a good note, but as Howell has started to slip earlier this week, Milton remained the more steady hand. Preseason will be the biggest determining factor in who wins this job, so don’t give Milton the job just yet, but he has started to crack slightly ahead.”
Based on all of those comments from the Cowboys beat, it sounds like this competition will be decided by how Milton and Howell perform in preseason games.
The Cowboys are set to play their first preseason game on August 15 on the road against the Seattle Seahawks. We should see plenty of Milton and Howell in that matchup.
