{"id":58606,"date":"2025-06-26T05:12:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T05:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=58606"},"modified":"2025-06-26T05:12:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T05:12:30","slug":"breaking-cowboys-backup-joe-milton-iii-waiting-in-wings-to-replace-240-million-qb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=58606","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING : Cowboys Backup Joe Milton III \u2018Waiting in Wings\u2019 to Replace $240 Million QB"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"l-article__header\"><\/header>\n<div class=\"l-article__meta\">\n<div class=\"l-article__meta-item l-article__meta-item--dates\">\n<ul class=\"c-meta c-meta--post c-meta--list c-meta--dates\">\n<li class=\"c-meta__item c-meta__item--updated\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"l-article__content\">\n<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2192528056-e1750908023315.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2192528056-e1750908023315.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2192528056-e1750908023315.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2192528056-e1750908023315.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Joe Milton III\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" data-img-load-time=\"3721\" data-dom-ready-time=\"8468\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">New England Patriots quarterback Joe Milton III in 2024.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>As we approach the start of NFL training camps, the group of people who have faith in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/dallas-cowboys\/\">D<\/a>allas Cowboys\u00a0having a successful 2025 season seems to dwindle exponentially. Every day, someone jumps ship or takes a shot.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s understandable. The Cowboys seemed to be building toward something with consecutive 12-5 seasons in 2022 and 2023 before going fully in the tank in 2024 with a 7-10 record \u2014 and they\u2019ve done little to show they\u2019ll be much better this season.<\/p>\n<p>Bleacher Report\u2019s Alex Kay\u00a0put the Cowboys at the top of his list of NFL teams who could be aggressive sellers at this year\u2019s trade deadline \u2014 a.k.a. teams who will be out of playoff contention by the trade deadline.<\/p>\n<p>In Kay\u2019s scenario, if the Cowboys do struggle again it could lead to a massive rebuild that includes quarterback\u00a0Dak Prescott\u00a0taking a seat in favor of second year quarterback\u00a0Joe Milton III.<\/p>\n<div id=\"id\/article\/slide\/5213209\/element\/5\" class=\"MuiBox-root css-6emr8c\">\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">\u201cWith Prescott heading into his age-32 season and coming off a hamstring injury that could lead to further regression, the Cowboys could be farther from a championship than ever,\u201d Kay wrote on June 24. \u201cGiven how desperate ownership is to make it back to the biggest stage \u2014 it\u2019s been three decades since Dallas reached the NFC Championship Game, let alone the Super Bowl \u2014 and a potential replacement for Prescott waiting in the wings in Joe Milton III, it may not be long before the Cowboys elect to initiate a roster overhaul.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"3e1f1f2f0321663ca60058e09fcd887c\" class=\"embed_container\">\n<div class=\"tweet-container\">\n<article class=\"tweet-container_article\">\n<div class=\"tweet-container_header tweet-verified-business\">\n<div class=\"tweet-header__author tweet-header__author--verified\">\n<div class=\"tweet-header__meta\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tweet-header-brand\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tweet-body\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/PATRIOTS?src=hashtag_click\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow external\">#PATRIOTS<\/a> QB JOE MILTON CASUALLY THROWING THE BALL 85 YARDS WITH EASE.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83e\udd2f\ud83e\udd2f\ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n<p>ONE OF THE BEST ARMS EVER.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tweet-media tweet-media--1\">\n<div class=\"tweet-media__container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tweet-actions\"><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Prescott\u2019s Legacy: Coming Up Short in Playoffs<\/h2>\n<p>Headed into his 10th season as the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/dallas-cowboys\/dak-prescott-no-respect-locker-room\/\">Co<\/a>wboys starting quarterback, Prescott\u2019s legacy seems to have 2 main talking points.<\/p>\n<p>The first is his pay. He\u2019s become the\u00a0highest paid player in NFL twice, when he signed a 4-year, $160 million contract in 2020 and when he signed a 4-year, $240 million contract in 2024, making him both the NFL\u2019s first $40 million per year player and first $60 million per year player.<\/p>\n<p>The second and most defining part of Prescott\u2019s legacy is his\u00a0utter failure in the postseason. Despite being one of the NFL\u2019s top regular season quarterbacks throughout his career, Prescott has yet to advance the Cowboys to the NFC Championship Game \u2014 something no Dallas quarterback has done since Troy Aikman following the 1995 season.<\/p>\n<p>From NFL.com: \u201cI wanna win a championship,\u201d Prescott said, via\u00a0the team\u2019s website. \u201cThe legacy and the things, and whatever comes after I finish playing, will take care of itself. I wanna win a championship. Be damned if it\u2019s just for my legacy, for this team, for my personal being, for my sanity \u2014 the legacy will take care of itself. I have to stay where my feet are.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Unfair Criticism of Milton\u2019s Rookie Year<\/h2>\n<p>Some of the criticism of Milton before he was traded from the\u00a0New England Patriots\u00a0to the Cowboys seems pretty unwarranted and\u00a0unfairly tarnished his reputation.<\/p>\n<p>Mainly, the criticism of Milton for being a \u201clocker room problem\u201d seemed especially unsavory. Essentially, Milton got bad stories leaked about him because he allegedly thought he was better than first round pick and starter\u00a0Drake May<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/drake-maye\/\">e<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While a long-term veteran backup might be more inclined to take a backseat to Maye or any other embedded starter, asking a rookie to do so on a team as bad as the Patriots is pretty wild \u2014 and explains why they\u2019ve been so bad since Tom Brady left.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-content entry-content\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"l-article__author-bio\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty New England Patriots quarterback Joe Milton III in 2024. As we approach the start of NFL training camps, the group of people who have faith in&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING : Cowboys Backup Joe Milton III \u2018Waiting in Wings\u2019 to Replace $240 Million QB - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=58606\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING : Cowboys Backup Joe Milton III \u2018Waiting in Wings\u2019 to Replace $240 Million QB - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty New England Patriots quarterback Joe Milton III in 2024. 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