Before the season, the Seattle Seahawks clearly thought about how versatile the offense could be, not only overall but also at the quarterback position. Sam Darnold was definitely going to be the starter, but rookie Jalen Milroe might be used at times to run a potentially explosive gimmicky play.
Milroe had his chances. He played in three of the first five games, but offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak or head coach Mike Macdonald decided to put a quick stop to that. Milroe couldn't execute even the simplest of plays he was allowed to try.
He was never asked to throw the ball. Instead, he was used on three running plays, and he gained a total of four yards. Even worse, in his final appearance of the season (Week 5 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Milroe possibly changed the narrative of the game by making a bad pitch to running back Zach Charbonnet on a promising first half drive.
Jalen Milroe trending toward being a wasted third-round draft pick for the Seattle Seahawks
The ball bounced high off Charbonnet, and the Buccaneers recovered the fumble. Milroe hasn't touched the ball since.
One wonders, barring injuries, if he ever will again. He was a third-round draft pick in 2025, but the team had also signed Darnold to a three-year deal. Obviously, Seattle doesn't trust Milroe enough to do much of anything now, especially dropping back to pass, so it's unlikely they will trust him next year, either.
Assuming Darnold isn't completely awful next season, and assuming QB2 Drew Lock is back as well (Lock signed a two-year deal this past offseason), Milroe is probably stuck as QB3. He would need to show a lot of growth next offseason to prove otherwise.
Coming out of Alabama, many draft pundits thought Jalen Milroe was an elite athlete whose accuracy might never be great. The problem with that is that he is a quarterback and his priority is going to be standing in the pocket and delivering passes on time. No proof exists that he will ever be able to do that.
Milroe appears to be a very good person, and maybe good as a QB3 on a team, but one question a Seattle Seahawks fan could ask is whether Seattle should have gone in a different direction in the third round than choosing Milroe.
Seattle could have gone with cornerback Upton Stout, for instance, who has been a quality slot corner for the San Francisco 49ers this season and was taken eight spots after Milroe. Stout might have made Riq Woolen an easier decision to let walk in free agency this coming offseason, as Seattle could have drafted an outside corner in 2026 or moved Devon Witherspoon outside.