Jalen Milroe was the fourth quarterback taken in the 2025 NFL Draft, taken in the third round, two picks before the Cleveland Browns selected Dillon Gabriel. The Seattle Seahawks took Milroe as a long-term plan with Sam Darnold and Drew Lock already on the roster. That said, Milroe will get his chance to shine in Saturday’s preseason finale. He’ll get the chance to run the offense as if he was the starter.
Milroe will start and play the full game against the Green Bay Packers. With it, he’ll get the chance to show the other 31 NFL teams that passed on him why they made a mistake. Of course, taken in the third round it doesn’t leave a lot to be desired, but the other teams had a chance to take a gamble on him and didn’t.
What Milroe does in the Seahawks’ preseason finale could very well make him a viable trade candidate down the road. Here’s who’s going to regret letting Milroe slide this past April.
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints quarterback situation is a dumpster fire. And there’s no telling that Milroe makes this team better, per se, but it certainly wouldn’t be worse than what they already have. Milroe is a much better option than Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler, and if the Saints had a do-over, they would probably go after Milroe with their second-round pick.
Kellen Moore is playing a dangerous game in putting faith in Rattler and Shough to keep him from getting fired. On top of that, you can’t convince me the Saints truly thought Shough was the better option to Milroe. I agree, Milroe needs more development than anything, but his talent surpasses Shough’s.
Things aren’t great for the Saints with their quarterbacks and adding Milroe doesn’t instantly make it better. But what he can add to the New Orleans offense has to be better than what Shough will add. A quarterback battle between Milroe and Rattler sounds a little bit better than Rattler and Shough.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville will regret not taking Milroe for a couple of reasons. For one, the player they took with the No. 88 pick, Caleb Ransaw, is injured and toward the bottom of the depth chart. Milroe would have been an insurance selection with Trevor Lawrence not playing up to par. Had the Jags looked at bringing in Milroe, maybe that would have put pressure on Lawrence to play much better than he has.
There’s a chance it would have been a wasted pick just because they already invested $256 million into Lawrence. But again, Lawrence had some health issues last year and he hasn’t been in a situation where he’s been in a quarterback battle. I think it would benefit him to have some motivation to play better.
Again, it doesn’t mean adding Milroe would have helped, but if Lawrence doesn’t play better soon, they are going to hope they have his replacement already. Milroe could have been a long term solution if Lawrence ultimately didn’t work out. The last thing the Jaguars need to worry about is the quarterback position. Milroe could have bailed them out.
Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams could use a backup quarterback right about now. While Josiah Stewart isn’t a bad pickup, especially because the Rams have been great at targeting young defensive players that have solid potential, Milroe being a backup to Matthew Stafford, certainly now, would have been a much better solution.
Stetson Bennett and Jimmy Garoppolo are the current options and if Stafford is forced to miss time due to his back injury, they’ll probably regret not having Milroe as an option over Garoppolo or Bennett. They need a quarterback for the future and Milroe could have been that for them.
Sean McVay is known as a coach who can develop a quarterback so landing Milroe would have been the perfect building block. If the Rams have to turn to Garoppolo or Bennett this year, they’ll regret not taking a chance on Milroe. If Stewart doesn’t end up having an impact in the first few years of his NFL career, it could become an even bigger regret.