What to Make Of Joe Milton’s First NFL Start
With the Patriots season going about as terribly as they could imagine, ending 4-13, they can at least look forward to having a top-five pick in the draft this offseason. The Patriots started the season with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback, but eventually, everyone in the building wanted to see what they had in the young quarterback, Drake Maye. Maye had his moments this season, but he wasn’t enough to lift the Patriots to any real significant wins this season. In this last week of the season, the Patriots figured they might as well give their other rookie quarterback, Joe Milton, a chance to show what he can do. So, how did Joe Milton do in his first NFL start with the Patriots?
In this game, the Patriots managed to come away with their fourth win of the season. Milton, against primarily the Bills’ backup defense, was amazing for the Patriots. He threw for 237 yards and scored two touchdowns with a completion percentage of over 80%. His biggest knock coming out of college was that he was inconsistent with his accuracy. However, he showed, at least in this game, that he can be accurate and effective as an NFL quarterback. Now, this game’s performance shouldn’t be blown out of proportion, but Patriots fans should be optimistic about having multiple young quarterbacks that have the potential to develop in this system over the coming years.
This season has been a disaster for the Patriots. However, if they can find an answer at the quarterback position for the long-term future, then fans have a reason to be optimistic. In the upcoming draft, they should look to do several things. Firstly, they should try to find some dynamic skill position players to help out their young quarterbacks. To accomplish this, they could look to trade down from their top-five draft pick to acquire multiple first-round picks and focus on acquiring several young players in this draft. However, none of the team's offseason moves matter if they can’t develop Drake Maye and Joe Milton effectively moving forward into next season.
