I’m going to give you a list of eight quarterbacks. And pretty soon, I will tie this list into Seattle Seahawks third-string QB Jalen Milroe. You can try to guess what that tie-in is, but first, I just want you to see if you can come up with anything that unifies these eight other names regardless of Milroe. (Spoiler alert: It will not be easy to do so.)
Ready? Here are the QBs: Josh Allen, Kyler Murray, Dwayne Haskins, Trey Lance, Justin Fields, Mac Jones, Anthony Richardson, and Malik Willis.
So, you have one future Hall of Famer in Allen. A couple of current starters in Murray and Willis. Backups who have some starting experience in Fields and Jones. And three of the biggest draft busts in recent memory in Haskins, Lance, and Richardson. Any common thread here? Any link to Jalen Milroe?
The Seattle Seahawks cannot be done with the Jalen Milroe experience
Since 2018, when Allen and a bunch of other QBs entered the league as first-round picks, through last season when Seattle chose Milroe in the third round, those eight players are the only QBs drafted in the first three rounds who had fewer passing attempts in college than Milroe.
(Ty Simpson, chosen this year by the Rams, also had fewer attempts, but obviously we do not have any kind of book on how he may fare in the NFL.)
Milroe left Alabama having thrown 663 passes. As a point of comparison, Cam Ward and Jaxon Dart, the two quarterbacks chosen in 2025's first round, essentially doubled that number in college. Dillon Gabriel, chosen shortly after Milroe, more than tripled it.
There is no correlation between a lot of throws in college and success in the pros. Gabriel is not likely to ever be a star in the NFL. He lacks the physical attributes to be as good as, say, Kyler Murray. But you can come a little closer if you consider the other end of the spectrum.
Quarterbacks who don’t get many reps in college are less likely to have success in the pros. For every Josh Allen, you are like to find three Trey Lances. Other first-round QBs during the time frame in question who totaled fewer than 900 passes include Zach Wilson, Kyle Trask, Davis Mills, Will Levis, and JJ McCarthy.
To be fair, there have been some successes with under 900 throws -- players like Sam Darnold, Tua Tagovailoa, and C.J. Stroud -- but they have all faced struggles along the way.
The upshot is, limited college attempts are not the kiss of death, but it is something that correlates with difficulty in the NFL more often than not. The eight QBs I mentioned earlier have a combined career quarterback rating of 83.9, a number that would have placed a hypothetical QB 31st in the NFL last year, sandwiched between Geno Smith and Cam Ward.
That is not what you are hoping for when you spend a Day 1 or Day 2 draft pick on a signal-caller. Those eight QBs also have a career winning percentage of a fraction over 50%. But when you drop Allen’s numbers, the winning percentage plummets ten points to 40%. Again, not what you are hoping for with your new QB.
Jalen Milroe never should have been drafted in the third round. It’s not that he won’t develop into a good – maybe even great – player. It’s just a very big gamble with very long odds.
The things he struggled with in college – decision-making and accuracy – require reps, reps he would have gotten had he taken advantage of his redshirt year and played college ball in 2025. He will not get those reps in the NFL.
We saw that on display against the Titans, especially late in the game when he threw a couple of interceptions. Prior to those two mistakes, I thought Milroe was looking better than I had seen him before.
He was clearly hamstrung by playing with an inferior offensive line and without many playmakers at skill positions. He did not move the team very well in the second half, but the Seahawks committed offensive penalties on three of his five drives. On the other two, he threw his picks.
Milroe is far too inconsistent right now. But the fact is, John Schneider did draft him. He spent a pretty valuable pick on the QB. Quality secondary performers like Xavier Watts and Upton Stout were drafted a few picks later, and we all know how much the Seahawks like to load up on the secondary.
If Sam Darnold or Drew Lock gets hurt this year, Schneider will need to find a veteran journeyman to come in and serve as the primary backup because Milroe is not ready for that role yet.
But that doesn’t mean Seattle should give up on him now. I grant the odds are against him. I admit that I thought it was a mistake to draft him where they did. But he has talent and contrary to how it seemed with those ugly picks on Sunday, I think he is better this year than he was last year. And who else are they going to get at this point to be their QB3?
No, forget the sunk costs. For now, Jalen Milroe is a part of the Seahawks, and fans just have to hope for the best. It may not be likely, but it’s not inconceivable that he will still develop.
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