Joe Milton 2024 NFL Draft Profile
Welcome to the laser show. We’re talking the ultimate rocket launcher next up in the 2024 NFL Draft profile series. Let’s have a needed chat about everything you should know about Tennessee signal caller, Joe Milton.
The arm strength. It’s about as good as you’re going to see. It’s A+ arm juice. If you can’t see that watching the Combine , then you may as well be blind. If anything, I’m more encouraged by what I saw at the Combine. You can see he’s really working on his mechanics. He’s doing the best he can to clean up the footwork stuff.
The biggest knock on Milton is that he hasn’t played well. Sounds obvious but it’s more complex than that with Milton. The tools are just too damn tantalizing to ever fully give up on the guy. It’s not just the pure arm talent, which is about as generational as it gets. The Pahokee, Florida native checks in at 6-foot-5, 235. He also ran a 4.56 at the pro day, which means he’s probably a 4.62 guy. Still an athletic time for a quarterback and there is a power element to his game.
If Anthony Richardson made it, why can’t Milton? The two aren’t that different physically. If anything, Richardson looks more like a tight end than Milton does. Milton has a real power element to his game. He scored seven rushing touchdowns this past year playing in the SEC with Tennessee. Richardson was a more efficient runner during his playing days, but Milton can very well be used in that same way.
Speaking of Richardson, Milton had better throwing numbers during their final season in college. For as frustrating as it was watching Milton this year, he still posted a 20-5 TD to INT ratio completing 64.7% of his throws to go along with a 7.9 yards per attempt clip. If you combine all of his work at Tennessee, he posted a 32-5 TD to INT ratio.
At the same token, we’re still talking about a 24-year-old prospect. Another one of these transfer portal guys. Milton never won the job at Michigan after getting three cracks at it. This was before the JJ McCarthy days too. Michigan was dying for a quarterback back then. For as much as you want to believe in the guy, he really gives you no reason to. Former three star guy and wasn’t necessarily expected to be the guy at a program like Michigan.
There were a lot of painful moments for Milton this year. Against better competition, he totally vanished. Was terrible against Georgia. Ditto against Alabama . If my quarterback can’t elevate his guys, what’s the point? Had one of the worst interceptions I’ve ever seen against Texas A&M. Very good during the practice portion of the Senior Bowl but you can’t get the guy to play fast. The turnover machine part of his came out during the Senior Bowl game.
So much of the quarterback position is mental. It’s why Jared Goff stunk when he first entered the league. It’s why it took Jordan Love forever to become functional. Both guys couldn’t play fast when first entering the NFL ranks. When will the lightbulb go off for Milton? During the times it clicks, he takes your breath away. Will it ever click?
He’s a walking pro / con. The walking dictionary of Yin and Yang. He’s everything you want from a physical standpoint. That’s until you watch him and he stares right at a defender telegraphing the worst interception you have ever seen. Thinking ahead and finding the anticipatory target, he ain’t got it. He completed just 38.6% of his throws beyond 10 yards. The arm talent is cool but who cares if you can’t complete balls down the field? This should have been a system too that allowed that as we saw with Hendon Hooker the year prior.
I have a third round grade on Joe Milton. For as much as he makes you pull your hair out, you’re not going to find someone this gifted this late in the draft. It’s a rare opportunity to put a guy in your system and fix his flaws. If Jordan Love can do it, Milton can too. Milton is more gifted than Love was while still having that same ability to make those freakish flick of the wrist throws. He’s showed enough maturity and progression in his lower half to pull the trigger. If you’re a team like Dallas and you need to prepare for the future while not asking the kid to start right away, it would be the ideal scenario.
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