After an electric performance during silly season in 2024 against the Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots quarterback Joe Milton III turned some heads.
Drake Maye's backup posted a two-touchdown, 241 passing-yard performance which helped lead the Patriots to a 23-16 victory over the eventual AFC Championship-losing Bills. While this was a moot performance in a way, with New England having already been eliminated from the postseason, Milton still impressed with his legs and confidence in the pocket.
The 2nd year quarterback seems primed to once again back Maye up barring a great deal offered to the Patriots. They've expressed willingness to move on from him if he's landing in a good situation, but clearly, that situation hasn't presented itself yet.
In a recent article from CBS Sports, one team listed as a potential landing spot for the intriguing prospect is the Cleveland Browns.
Browns named ideal landing spot for Milton III
CBS Sports writer Tyler Sullivan shared in an article about the Patriots quarterback that he thinks the Browns - along with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, and Los Angeles Rams - could be a solid landing spot for Milton III if the Patriots traded him ahead of the 2025 season.
"With Milton, they'd get a player with eye-popping arm talent on the cheap. With him being a former sixth-round pick, Milton has cap hits of less than $1.25 million in each of the next three seasons. That should be widely attractive to Cleveland given Watson has dead cap charges of well over $100,000 million over the next two years," wrote Sullivan in his justification for the suggestion.
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He added in the piece that Milton wouldn't necessarily be a starter for the Browns, but more so a gamble. He'd compete in the offseason for the starting job with Kenny Pickett and whoever else the team hypothetically signed or drafted, and Cleveland would then have three cheap options at signal callers rostered.
We shouldn't be basing Milton's ceiling on one meaningless late-season win against the Bills. He looked impressive, but a larger sample size is needed at the NFL-level before determining if he's worth a gamble or trade by the Browns. They've already faced some backlash from fans for trading a late-round pick for Pickett. They'd need to be trading for a starter with any other moves involving draft capital.
Pairing Milton up with head coach Kevin Stefanski could be a great move for the team's future, if it worked. If not, it'd just be another goof up from this front office in their search for a temporary-to-permanent full-time quarterback of the future.