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Joe Milton III’s future in Dallas may be in doubt following a recent Cowboys roster decision.
The Dallas Cowboys shook up their quarterback depth behind starter Dak Prescott on Monday by signing veteran quarterback Will Grier to a reserve/future contract after cutting the 2019 third-rounder in training camp. The decision could have ripple effects on the team’s plans for the 2026 season, raising questions about the future of $4.2 million backup Joe Milton III, whose spot behind Prescott has already been tenuous amid inconsistent production in his limited opportunities this season.
The deal means Grier, who spent the entire 2025 campaign as the Dallas practice squad “emergency” quarterback, will be part of the Cowboys’ 90-man offseason roster and compete again for a role in the quarterback room. While Milton is still expected to return as the primary backup, re-signing Grier gives the Cowboys a familiar, experienced option and could signal that Dallas isn’t fully sold on letting a high-upside project like Milton continue in the job without a fight.
The Cowboys acquired Milton in a trade with the New England Patriots last April. New England made Milton a surprise sixth-round pick out of Tennessee in 2024, after drafting North Carolina QB Drake Maye with the No. 3 overall selection. Maye, in his second season, will quarterback the Patriots in the Super Bowl on Sunday after leading the six-time NFL champion franchise to a 14-3 season.
Dallas’ Decision to Retain Will Grier Adds Pressure to a Crowded QB Room Behind Dak Prescott.
Milton won the job backing up Prescott by outplaying Grier in the preseason, at least in the eyes of first-year Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer. But he went on to struggle in parts of four games this season when Prescott was on the sidelines.
Those games included the season finale against the New York Giants, a team with only three wins at the time, but which doubled up Dallas in that contest, 34-17.
Milton played the second half against the Giants and completed only seven of 13 passes, 53.8 percent, and threw an interception, ending with 73 yards and a dismal passer rating of 38.3.
“As promising as Joe Milton’s tools are, the reality is the Cowboys didn’t get promising play out of him in 2025,” A to Z Sports Cowboys correspondent Mauricio Rodriguez wrote Monday after the Grier signing announcement.
“Milton was an inaccurate passer,” Rodriguez continued. “Though it’s easy to get carried away with his arm power, oftentimes he overthrew receivers by a wide margin. His on-target percentage sat at 65.2 percent, per Pro Football Reference, which would have ranked below 42 qualifying quarterbacks.”
Milton’s Arm Strength Not in Doubt
Milton has always seemed an enticing prospect due to his extreme athletic abilities, including his eye-popping arm strength that regularly leads to practice videos showing him launching the football 80 yards in the air.
During his one appearance for the Patriots, in the 2024 season finale against the Buffalo Bills, Milton unleashed the second-fastest pass ever recorded in the NFL, at 62 mph.
But his inaccuracy in game situations and often-erratic decision-making have always limited his potential.
“The Cowboys should be questioning whether he’s anything more than a practice-squad quarterback,” The Landry Hat writer Maitland Rutledge wrote following the Dallas season finale. “With Dak Prescott only guaranteed to be on the roster through 2027, Dallas needs to begin evaluating what it truly has behind him.”
The re-acquisition of Grier, albeit to an offseason reserve/future contract, appears to signal that the Cowboys are doing exactly that.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
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