Rookie Profile: Joe Milton, Quarterback, New England Patriots
Welcome to the Rookie Profile: Joe Milton, was a 3-star prospect out of Olympia High School in Orlando, Florida. He originally committed to Michigan in 2017. After 3 seasons with the Wolverines, he transferred to Tennessee.
His first two seasons at Michigan were red-shirt years. Milton only saw action in 6 games within those first 2 seasons. Or 7 games if you include the bowl game in 2018 vs Florida.
In year 3 at Michigan, he played in 6 games. His completion percentage was poor, below 60%. But he did manage to throw for over 1,000 yards. On the other hand, he threw 4 touchdowns with 4 interceptions.
Milton transferred to Tennessee in 2021 with hopes for a fresh start. However, Hendon Hooker was their starting QB. Unfortunately, Milton only threw for 375 yards through 8 games. His completion percentage was again poor, below 60%.
Hendon Hooker continued to be the starting QB at Tennessee. This would become Milton’s 5th collegiate season. There was some surprising upside this season from Milton. Again, he only saw action in 8 games. But he did throw for 971 yards on 64.6% completion. Plus, he had 10 passing touchdowns with no interceptions.
The time was now! Hooker would leave for the NFL. All signs now point to Joe Milton finally getting the full-time starting job. To Milton, this could be considered his breakout season. He threw for 2,813 yards with a 4:1 touchdown to interception ratio. The upside was he showed his dual-threat capabilities. Milton also had 299 rushing yards for an additional 7 touchdowns.
Measurables
Draft Capital & Landing Spot
Draft Capital- Round 6 Pick 17 (193)
- A 6th-round draft pick for a quarterback is usually unnoticeable, however, the last great quarterback for New England was drafted in the 6th round.
- Will Joe Milton be the next Tom Brady? No, but does he potentially have the talent to succeed at an NFL level? Yes.
Landing Spot- New England Patriots
- I am not the biggest fan of New England for young quarterbacks, however, the team is in a rebuild mode with a new head coach. So much so, that the team drafted a quarterback at number 3 overall with Drake Maye (check our write on Maye here)
- But seeing that the team also drafted Joe Milton gives me the belief that they were not excited with what they had in current Patriot quarterback Bailey Zappe. Milton will need to do an incredible amount of work to beat out Maye, but he could beat out Zappe for the QB2 spot.
Team Depth Chart
Expected Role: Backup Quarterback
Depth Chart via Fantasy Pros
Fantasy Impact
Milton is a taxi squad rider for now. He will enter as a backup potentially 3rd string quarterback behind Zappe. The bright side again is that the New England Patriots took him even though they grabbed a quarterback with the 3rd overall pick. They were not comfortable with their quarterback room. Milton offers amazing arm talent with a prototypical body frame. If for whatever reason Maye fails at finding success it is possible they give the starting quarterback role to Joe Milton.
I am drafting Milton late where I can, and to be honest in some leagues I am just picking him up off waiver wires post draft. Will he be a reliable fantasy quarterback week one? No, as he should not be the starting quarterback for New England. Can he have some fantasy relevancy? Yes, if Maye fails then Milton could be the guy. Milton struggled at Tennessee because of his wide receivers being meh. New England went out and drafted two wide receivers to help build around Maye. However, in another world, it could be said that they were in fact him building around Milton. Draft him, put him on your taxi for at least a year, and if it does not work out release him to make room for incoming rookies next season.
Check out our 2024 Rookie Rankings Page for a full breakdown of this rookie class.
