Getty

Ex-Patriots QB Joe Milton

After the hiring of coach Mike Vrabel in the offseason, it became clear that the Patriots were going to build their entire offense focus around one player: quarterback Drake Maye, last year’s No. 3 overall pick and the best shot that New England has of becoming relevant again.

It’s a bit of a leap of faith. Maye showed flashes last year, but only flashes. He played in 13 games and started 12 in 2024, throwing for 175.1 yards per game and an 88.1 quarterback rating. While he looked impressive despite playing for a bad team, and looked the part of a quality NFL quarterback, the end result of Maye’s 12 starts was a 3-9 record, and 15 touchdowns to go with 10 interceptions. Again, some faith is required.

But one of the necessities for making Maye The Man was to clear out any potential competition and make the hierarchy in the QB room clear, a lesson the Patriots learned from their experience with Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe in recent years. That meant that the other young quarterback, sixth-round pick Joe Milton, had to go, to remove any whiff of a QB controversy going forward. This offseason, Milton was dealt to the Cowboys.

Joe Milton Praises Dallas Offense

This week, Milton held court with reporters in Dallas and in doing so, lobbed a subtle jab at the Patriots and the sad-sack offense the team put on the field last season.

“It’s way different,” Milton said via The Athletic. “This offense here brings me back more to my college days. My last offense was more everybody get tagged on which routes. This offense here is more fast and for sure explosive.

“… I feel like we’re taking the right step in the right direction every day. We’re paying attention to small details.”

It’s not exactly a fair way to look at last year’s offense, which was undoubtedly lacking in explosiveness but also was very much in a transition phase. This year, the Patriots spent heavily–financially and in draft capital–to bolster the offense. So Milton would have had a much more explosive offense to work with, except that the Patriots did not want him around.

Patriots Lost Out on No. 1 Pick

Milton also addressed what he called one of his best days, which was, conversely, the worst day for Patriots fans in last year’s 4-13 mess. That was the season finale, when Milton came in from Maye and played the bulk of the game against Buffalo, a team that rested its top players because it had little to play for.

Milton went 22-for-29 passing for 241 yards and a touchdown, adding a rushing touchdown, too, in a win over the Bills. That win cost the Patriots the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The team still wound up with tackle Will Campbell, but would have had a chance to trade down and collect more assets if not for Milton’s heroics.

“I went in there and did what the play caller and head coach wanted me to do, and that’s win the game,” Milton said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. It was the last game of the season. I was just going off happy. I went out with a win in my first game ever in the NFL. That’s pretty much all I was thinking about, until two months later and boom, I’m here.

“After the Buffalo game, I was like, it’s fun. I feel like I can keep doing this. I feel like there is more that I need to let out. I was just having fun. It’s probably one of the best days of my life.”

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney