On Thursday, the Patriots sent second-year quarterback Joe Milton III to the Cowboys. As Mike Reiss of ESPN.com reports, the timing was not a coincidence.
“Monday marks the start of the team’s voluntary program, and [coach Mike] Vrabel views that as a meaningful checkpoint in the process of establishing team culture and the dynamic that ideally unfolds within each position group,” Reiss writes.
It’s a glass-half-full characterization. But the message is unmistakable. Vrabel didn’t want Milton to be around when the process begins of crafting a team that will be clearly and unambiguously led by Drake Maye.
There’s been plenty of chatter about the concern that Milton’s mere presence undermines Maye. Milton has skills. Milton played well, both in the preseason and in a Week 18 win over the Bills that cost New England the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
The Patriots apparently don’t want on the roster a quarterback around whom some players and plenty of fans might rally if/when Maye experiences obstacles in the effort to achieve his ceiling. They want Maye to be the guy. If there’s another guy for whom a plausible argument can be made that he’s the guy, it becomes harder for Maye to be and stay the guy.
The move leaves the Patriots with only two quarterbacks on the roster: Maye and Joshua Dobbs. They’ll inevitably be adding someone to replace Milton.
Someone who won’t dilute the Drake Maye vibe in New England.
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