Former Tennessee QB Joe Milton's Senior Bowl debut is met with his perfect NFL comparison
It wasn't the greatest way to start off the week in Mobile, Alabama for former Tennessee Vols QB Joe Milton. Milton is a participant this week at the Senior Bowl as he begins to get ready for the NFL Draft. The players took to the field on Tuesday for drills and scrimmaging, and Milton was […]
It wasn't the greatest way to start off the week in Mobile, Alabama for former Tennessee Vols QB Joe Milton.
Milton is a participant this week at the Senior Bowl as he begins to get ready for the NFL Draft. The players took to the field on Tuesday for drills and scrimmaging, and Milton was one of the three players who stuck out in a not good way.
Per A to Z Sports' Jarrett Bailey, Milton was one of the three underachievers from Day 1 of the Senior Bowl. Bailey had this to say:
Milton is obviously fun to watch because he has a cartoon arm. He can throw the ball to the moon, and through it, but his accuracy is so spotty, to say the least. He'll be fun to watch in warmups or whenever he's allowed to uncork a missile in one-on-ones, but this isn't an NFL-ready arm in terms of consistent accuracy.
None of those things are particularly surprising to any Tennessee fan or to any college football fan who's managed to tune into a handful of Tennessee games last year. However, it's the tweet that Bailey included in his writeup that really sticks out.
That's quite the description for Milton: scattershot. That's something that Tennessee fans can relate to watching for much of the 2023 season.
The comparison to former NFL Josh Freeman is also pretty apropos. Freeman, who played at Kansas State, was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. At 6'6", 240 pounds, and with a huge arm, it's easy to understand why Freeman would be a comparison for Milton.
Freeman started off his career taking over late in the 2009 season as the Bucs starter before having his career-best year in 2010 with the Bucs, throwing for 3451 yards with 25 touchdowns to 6 interceptions. Unfortunately, 39 interceptions over the next two years and a plummeting completion rate were his undoing. He was released by the Bucs in October 2013 and was out of the league after a brief stint with Minnesota in 2015. He finished his career with an underwhelming 57.6% career completion percentage rate.
The comparison is a fair one for Milton, although Milton has more straight-line speed and managed to avoid throwing interceptions at Tennessee.
However, if Milton can't shake the completely warranted perception that he doesn't have the accuracy to succeed as an NFL quarterback, then he might not get the opportunity that Freeman had to even see the field for an NFL team.
