Can the Patriots solve Cleveland’s QB problem?

Some media members continue to pump up QB Joe Milton. Would the Browns be willing to take a chance?

The NFL can be a strange place if you are a quarterback.

Play well enough in college to be a high draft pick, and even if you are unable to sustain that same level as a pro, numerous opportunities can still be found with teams believing they will be the ones to “unlock the potential,” no matter how many years you’ve kicked around.

Sometimes, the best course of action, oddly enough, is to play so little that you remain a mystery, one so tempting that a team may be willing to bring you on board to compete for a starting role.

That appears to be what is currently playing out with New England Patriots quarterback Joe Milton III, a sixth-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft who played in one game last season – a Week 18 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

Milton’s numbers from the game are admirable – 22-of-29 for 241 yards, one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown, no sacks or turnovers – in what was a meaningless game for the Bills.

That game tape has apparently been enough to get the bandwagon rolling that the Patriots, who have Drake Maye as their starter and signed Josh Dobbs in free agency, would be open to trading Milton for the right price.

In the past week, several hosts across numerous programs at Sirius/XM NFL Radio have been arguing that teams should be willing to give up a third-round pick for Milton. One recent morning during The Opening Drive, the idea was even floated that Milton would be the No. 1 quarterback on the board if he were in this year’s NFL Draft.

All that for a player who, remember, was a sixth-round pick who came into the league with a powerful arm but also a “lack of time, accuracy, and touch,” according to his draft profile at NFL.com.

Such talk is balanced out a bit by Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, who threw some cold water on the idea of the Patriots getting a team to pony up such a high draft pick for Milton this week:

“I’d be pretty stunned if any team gave up a top-100 selection for him.

“Sure, he looked good in the Patriots’ Week 18 game against the Buffalo Bills’ backups. But that alone isn’t going to supersede the six years of evidence from college that put him in the sixth round last year. He wasn’t the answer for either Michigan or Tennessee, winning and then losing the starting job for the Wolverines in 2020, then having to wait until ’23 to start for the Volunteers. Both programs, for what it’s worth, surged after his departure.

“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have potential. He did show some in the Buffalo game, so I could see someone taking a flyer on him for a Day 3 pick. Hard to see much more than that.”

For argument’s sake, let’s say the good folks at Sirius are right about Milton’s untapped potential and look at a scenario where the Browns would be interested.

Everyone knows the Cleveland Browns need a quarterback as Kenny Pickett is the only one currently on the roster. But the list of free-agent quarterbacks, which was never robust to begin with, continues to shrink.

The trade market for Kirk Cousins of the Atlanta Falcons is currently on pause after reports came out that Cousins is comfortable waiting until after the draft to decide if he wants to waive his no-trade clause or is cool cashing checks for a year while being the backup in Atlanta and not uprooting his family for the second year in a row.

Cleveland can always just address the quarterback position in the draft by selecting whoever is available between Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders with the No. 2 overall pick. But there is debate over the quality of this year’s draft class, and perhaps Berry is not comfortable playing the “take whoever is left card” come the draft.

If the Browns see the upside of having a 6-foot-5 and 235-pound quarterback with a strong arm zipping passes through the Lake Erie winds (at least until the team moves into the domed stadium in Brook Park), and not sold on Sanders, and see no reason to bring the soon-to-be 37-year-old Cousins to town, would they consider a third-round pick too high of a price for Milton?

With Milton in the fold, general manager Andrew Berry could then either select Penn State’s Abdul Carter to bookend with Myles Garrett at defensive end, or add Colorado multi-threat Travis Hunter with their first-round selection. And that still leaves them with the first selection in the second round to add another key piece to the roster.

Milton then comes to training camp, easily beats out Pickett and whatever quarterback the Browns select on Day 3 as their “developmental quarterback,” and starts rewarding the club’s faith in Week 1 of this season.

When you think about it, is that really any more ridiculous than the idea that the Browns are actively trying to trade for Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys?

Could the Browns be interested in a young player like Milton? Of course. Would they be willing to give up a third-round pick? Probably not, but Berry might at least be willing to answer the phone to talk about a Day 3 pick. They need someone else in the quarterback room with Pickett and whichever rookie they select this year, and Milton might have more upside as a backup than Pickett.

In the end, Milton will probably be with the Patriots again this year, the Browns will do their thing in the latest attempt to find a quarterback. And in a few weeks, this will all go down as just the latest in the growing list of talking points in the league’s annual silly season leading up to the draft.