‘He looks great in a pair of jeans’ – Former Vols QB Joe Milton gets hit with reality check ahead of NFL season
Former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joe Milton is battling for the Dallas Cowboys’ backup quarterback job in training camp.
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Joe Milton served as the Dallas Cowboys’ backup quarterback last season.
But if he’s going to serve in that role for a second straight season, he’s going to have to earn it.
Milton is battling veteran Sam Howell in training camp for the Cowboys’ backup quarterback job.
105.3 The Fan’s Cory Mageors thinks it’ll be Howell that wins the job, and that’s in large part because he questions Milton’s understanding of the Cowboys’ offense.
“I think Sam Howell’s making this team,” said Mageors this 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 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.”
This has been the knock on Milton throughout his career. His physical talent is undeniable — and he’s made some wow plays in college and in the NFL — but he’s struggled to consistently run an offense (Tennessee had the worst scoring offense of the Josh Heupel era in 2023, the year Milton started).
I don’t know how many more chances Milton will get if he’s unable to lock down the backup job in Dallas over the next few weeks.
