Jalen Milroe speaks 40-yard dash time on Alabama Football Pro Day
The Alabama football quarterback spoke after attending Crimson Tide’s Pro Day on Wednesday.
This has no meaning. It definitely isn’t. But it’s the NFL and we’re here.
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe appears to have been invited to the NFL Draft by the league office. What this usually means is that the league thinks that Milllow is likely to be selected in the first round.
This makes the quarterback do ridiculous things to the NFL franchise.
Draft high, Big Dream. And more often, they fail spectacularly.
Zack Wilson, Mac Jones and Kenny Pickett. They are all the same. High pick, blown pick.
However, here is the difference between these three and Milllaw: They were skilled throwers in college football. Milllaw remains a key project after two seasons as an Alabama starter.
When we last saw dynamic and electric players on the field, he was in the process of being exposed to a Michigan team that lost five games in 2024.
In fact, in the final three games of the season, when Alabama chased college football playoff bids and needed Milllow the biggest way while playing in the bowl game, he completed 45 of 82 passes (54.8%) for 612 yards, completing one touchdown and nine turnovers (5 interceptions).
I ask you, does it sound like the first round draft pick of the NFL?
But I’ve seen this many times and again in the NFL Draft. In this draft, the team gets hooked on the quarterback after seeing the team throw into the air during personal training.
Instead of living by what they believe, they know that it is true: your tape is your resume.
The three NFL scouts told USA Today Sports that if Milroe is selected in the first two days of the draft (the first three rounds), he would be shocked. The scouts requested anonymity to protect draft preparations.
But obviously some teams are very intrigued by Milroe, and as the truth of the NFL Draft progresses, there’s only one thing to be needed.
Milllow was an exciting and dangerous college player, an excellent quarterback with 50-50 third-level throws, but struggled with accuracy at first and second-level throws. A slow movement of the chain.
He emphasized defenses with speed and power in the quarterback run game, but these defenses forced them to stack boxes and beat with their arms in three upset Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma last season.
He also had six intercepts with these three losses.
With a handful of teams looking for a quarterback in the draft, the Titans are expected to select Miami’s Come Ward with the No. 1 overall pick. Colorado’s Chedur Sanders and Mississippi’s Jackson Darts are also scheduled to be selected for day one.
The difference between these three and Millrow is unmistakable as a developed NFL-compatible thrower. But someone sees something and they want to spend valuable draft capital for it.
It appears that the Steelers, the same Steelers who blew the Picket Pick in 2022, have zeroed to Milllow. This idea would look like this: Future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers signed as bridge quarterback (imagine that), and Milllow will take over in 2026 or 2027.
Maybe that works. Maybe Milllow will sit behind Rogers and learn the nuances of the game at the highest level from one of the best positions ever. Like Jordan Love, it’s an exciting but important project in Utah before being selected in the first round by the Green Bay Packers in 2021.
It worked almost perfectly for both Rodgers and Love, who sat for two seasons and is now one of the league’s best young quarterbacks.
But there’s also the flipside where Jones, Pickett and Wilson live. In 2021, the San Francisco 49ers traded three future first-round draft picks to move up third overall and chose Trey Lance, the project’s definition.
Lance plays in eight games for the 49ers and will be with his third team five years later this season.
That makes no sense. But it doesn’t stop NFL teams from doing the same thing over and over.
Draft high, Big Dream. And be prepared to fail brilliantly.
Matt Hayes is a senior national college football writer for the USA Today Sports Network. Follow him with X at @matthayescfb.