Amidst a poor season for the New England Patriots, capped off by a Week 18 victory against AFC East rivals, the Buffalo Bills, which cost the 6 x Super Bowl champions the 1st overall pick in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, silver linings for the future lie in abundance.
Alongside having by far the most cap space coming into 2025 with $133 million, over $20 million more than the next highest team, the Las Vegas Raiders, it seems that the Patriots may have found their quarterback of the future.
Or indeed, *two* quarterbacks.
One of the unexpected stars of New England’s 2024 season was rookie backup QB, Joe Milton, who after showing promise in all three pre-season bouts, was given all but three offensive snaps in the season closer against the Bills.
Joe Milton Showed Promise For The Future In Sole Regular Season Game
Milton went off in that game – albeit against what were mostly Buffalo’s backups – going 22/29 for 241 yards and 2 total touchdowns, good for an excellent 111.4 passer rating. In fact, Milton’s fantastic regular season debut as the de facto starter was a large reason that the Patriots won that draft-position defining game 23-16.
But with former #3 overall pick Drake Maye impressing in his first season in the league; completing 66.6% of his passes and throwing for 2,276 yards, 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions for a respectable 88.1 passer rating – all the while dealing with poor offensive coaching, a terrible, injury ravaged offensive line and some of the worst offensive skill weapons in the entire league; the Patriots have a dilemma on their hands.
Over half the league will tell you – read: the Chicago Bears – that there is nothing negative about this “dilemma”, with many franchises going years and years without truly finding their franchise quarterback, constantly reliving the same cycles of mediocre offensive play for decades.
So, will the Patriots keep both their QBs, keeping Milton for insurance, all the while leaving potentially valuable trade assets on the table and risking unnerving their young budding face of the franchise.
Or do they trade Milton, likely for significantly less than he is truly worth – that is, if he does manage to become a legitimate franchise quarterback for another team – and also rid themselves of high quality QB insurance for the next four years.
New England has not made any hard, final decisions just yet, but it does look like they could be leaning in a certain
direction, according to former PFF writer, Steve Palazzolo, who notes that multiple NFL teams have already reached out to the Patriots about obtaining the former University of Tennessee QB’s services.
Patriots Could Trade Milton To Fellow AFC Teams
And it seems to be that Milton could well be staying in conference – although unlikely in-division – as Matthew Schmidt of Sports Illustrated notes that the three best trading partners with the Pats are all in the AFC.
The Raiders, Browns and Colts make up Schmidt’s prime destinations for the ultra-strong armed quarterback (who may have one of the biggest in the entire league):
The Raiders will likely look to move forward with a different starter after a disappointing, injury-riddled season for incumbent starter Gardner Minshew, despite Aidan O’Connell proving to be a more than serviceable backup.
The Browns may look for a cheap second option to compete with the oft-injured and poor-performing Deshaun Watson. And the Colts may decide to replace former #4 overall pick, Anthony Richardson, with whom some are calling the player that Richardson was supposed to become.
