Joe Milton III trade grades: Rating Cowboys' move for second-year QB from Patriots

Joe Milton III will be playing for a new team just two seasons into his career. On Thursday, it was reported that the New England Patriots had traded the young quarterback, whom they had drafted in the sixth round out of Tennessee, to the Dallas Cowboys for a swap of Day 3 picks.

Milton had been touted as a potential sleeper amongst backups after engineering a 23-16 win over the Buffalo Bills in the 2024 regular-season finale, covering 257 total yards (241 passing and 16 rushing) and scoring two touchdowns (one passing and one rushing) in the process. But who really won this trade?

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Grading Patriots' trade of Joe Milton to the Cowboys

Patriots: A

A team choosing two quarterbacks in the same draft is not unheard of. Most memorably, Washington had the second overall pick in 2012 and used it on Robert Griffin III. But they also had a fourth-round pick that became Kirk Cousins, who would succeed RG3 as the starter in just his fourth season.

The Patriots looked to emulate this strategy a dozen years later, nabbing Drake Maye third overall, then Joe Milton two days later. But the late pick's chances of seeing game time were always going to be very limited with Jacoby Brissett also onboard, and they shrank even more when Josh Dobbs became the new backup on a two-year deal.

So they understandably chose to part ways with their young player in exchange for a pick that could turn into something worthwhile. It has long been said that they need top playmakers for Maye, and they recently got one in Stefon Diggs.

But having more depth does not hurt, and there is a bevy of players available for them. See the case of San Jose State's Nick Nash, who had a dominant triple crown but has been largely overlooked.

Cowboys: A

As for the Cowboys, they badly needed a new backup after the long-serving Cooper Rush left for the Baltimore Ravens. While their draft pick is nothing special, the potential positional controversy is something to keep an eye on.

In his last collegiate season, Joe Milton was very dominant, throwing for over 2,800 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushing for 299 yards and seven touchdowns. Jerry Jones certainly should be salivating at such potential, with doubts likely to be raised over Dak Prescott's viability as a starter after his season-ending hamstring injury.