NFL training camp and preseason is generally a time when fans and the media make a big deal out of nothing, where plays that takes place in practice, good ones or bad ones, are treated as they has some great significance that could determine how a whole season plays out. Most often, they end up meaning very little.
But sometimes plays take place in practice that simply cannot be ignored. That’s what happened in the Dallas Cowboys’ joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams on Tuesday.
And this one play has Cowboys fans so excited that some are even predicting that it will lead to a change in the team’s starting quarterback.
What happened?
Cowboys Trade Acquisition Turning Heads
Perhaps it will not be come as a surprise to find out that the spectacular play involved the Cowboys’ hyper-athletic backup quarterback Joe Milton III.
The Cowboys acquired the 25-year-old Milton in an April 3 trade with the New England Patriots, along with a seventh-round draft pick — sending back nothing more than a fifth-round pick in return.
For the Patriots, the trade had to be considered a win, at least on paper, because they drafted Milton last year in the sixth round, 193rd overall. That was the same draft in which New England owned the No. 3 overall pick and used it on their quarterback-of-the-future, Drake Maye.
But after Milton’s play in Tuesday’s joint practice went viral, even some Patriots fans were wondering if their team let Milton go too quickly, and for a price that was much too low, at least as evidenced by calls to locals sports talk radio.
Massive Milton TD Pass Goes Viral
The play that caused all of the buzz, and that went viral in a video posted by Dallas KDFW-TV sports anchor Jeff Kolb, was Milton’s touchdown pass against the Rams’ defense to wide receiver Jalen Brooks, a Cowboys’ seventh-round draft pick out of South Carolina in 2023.
Of course the pass will not be recorded as an official NFL stat. If it had, it would have been a record — at least for the NextGen Stats era which dates back to 2016.
Baker Mayfield Holds Official Record
The longest pass in the air ever recorded by NextGen stats in an NFL game was thrown by Baker Mayfield, then quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, against the Baltimore Ravens in 2020. That toss traveled 70.5 yards, but landed incomplete.
No NFL quarterback, at least since the statistic has been measured, has ever thrown a pass of 75 yards in the air, complete or incomplete in an official game. But Brooks caught Milton’s pass in the end zone for touchdown.
Fans React to Video of Milton Bomb
Given that Cowboys starter Dak Prescott is the highest-paid player in NFL history, on a four-year, $240 million contract, Milton will probably not become the Cowboys’ “guy.”
But, reacting the viral video, another said of Milton, “We fleeced the Pats. We gonna get a first round pick if we trade him.”
A third made the prediction, “Milton will be starter by Week 8 and never look back,” while another asserted, “It’s a matter of time.”
As long as Prescott stays healthy, the idea that Milton will replace him anytime soon seems far-fetched. But the former Tennessee Volunteer is competing with fellow backup Will Grier for the No. 2 job behind Prescott.
The Cowboys gave a hint where that competition stands when they announced this week that Milton will be ahead of Grier on the depth chart for Sunday’s preason opener against the Rams.
