{"id":228260,"date":"2025-04-14T14:06:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T18:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=228260"},"modified":"2025-04-14T14:06:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T18:06:02","slug":"making-the-case-for-jalen-milroe-to-the-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/04\/14\/making-the-case-for-jalen-milroe-to-the-giants\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Case for Jalen Milroe to the Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe is an intriguing prospect in this year\u2019s draft. While not many people expected him to be selected in the first half of round one, Milroe received an invite to the <\/span>draft green room<\/span><\/a>, suggesting he could be chosen earlier than anticipated.\u00a0 The overall scouting report on Milroe is tantalizing. General managers across the NFL seem to agree that he is an elite athlete but unrefined as a passer. <\/span>One anonymous scout told Bleacher Report that his ceiling is \u201ctoo hard to ignore.\u201d<\/span><\/a> How does Jalen Milroe fit with the New York Giants? With Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston on the roster in 2025, is Milroe an intriguing long-term option with an upside to solve the team\u2019s quarterback worries?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at Jalen Milroe as a <\/span>prospect, <\/span><\/a>his strengths, and areas of improvement.\u00a0 Is Jalen Milroe a realistic possibility?<\/span><\/p>\n

Making the Case for Jalen Milroe to the Giants<\/h2>\n

<\/b>College Career Overview<\/b><\/h3>\n

Milroe took over Alabama\u2019s starting quarterback position in 2023 and led them to a 21-6 record. In short, he is a dual-threat quarterback with a strong arm and elite athleticism. The second he enters the NFL, Milroe will instantly become one of the league\u2019s best young athletes. At 6\u20192, 225 pounds, Milroe has the frame to withstand NFL defenders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout his college career, Milroe threw 39 passing touchdowns and 17 interceptions while rushing for 1,267 yards and 33 touchdowns. He led the Crimson Tide to the SEC championship game in 2023 while becoming one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation. However, his ability to operate a consistent passing game stagnated from 2023 to 2024. His completion percentage and yards\/ per attempt stayed mostly the same while his touchdown passes dropped from 23 to 16.<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Strengths<\/b><\/h3>\n

According to the SEC Network, Milroe ran 4.4 at Alabama\u2019s pro day. While it shouldn\u2019t surprise anyone, it tangibly cemented that Milroe has elite speed that an NFL offense could use right away. He epitomizes the term \u201cdual-threat quarterback.\u201d He is without question the most physically gifted quarterback in this year\u2019s class. His speed, athleticism, and elusiveness are also the only truly elite traits that any quarterback has in this class, too. For that reason, Milroe has the highest ceiling of any prospect if he can develop as a passer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Giants fans know that Daboll values and maximizes production with athletic quarterbacks. Josh Allen ran for over 2300 yards in four seasons under Brian Daboll in Buffalo. Daniel Jones ran for 708 yards in 2022 as well. Milroe\u2019s rushing ability gives him an immediate use and floor for Daboll and the Giants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Arm Strength and Deep-Ball Ability<\/b><\/h4>\n

Milroe\u2019s true strength as a passer is his ability to throw the ball downfield. He leans into his arm strength and lives for explosive plays- which philosophically align with the offense Brian Daboll wants to run in New York. In 2024, Milroe had an impressive 95.8 PFF grade on throws longer than 40 yards, a 98.7 PFF grade on throws longer than 20 yards, and the second-highest \u201cbig-time throw rate\u201d in college football.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Giants wide receiver room is currently constructed for big plays with Malik Nabers, Darius Slayton, and Jailyn Hyatt. While there are <\/span>major <\/span><\/i>concerns regarding Milroe\u2019s ability to run the quick game and a rhythmic offense, he should be able to lean into his strengths as a passer with the Giants’ current personnel. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>Leadership and Big Game Experience<\/b><\/h4>\n

Jalen Milroe’s leadership and big-game experience became defining aspects of his college career at Alabama, especially during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He was benched in 2023 after a poor performance against Texas. Instead of entering the transfer portal, Milroe opted to stay in Alabama and worked his way back into the starting lineup. In addition, coaches and teammates have praised Milroe\u2019s locker room presence and positive energy. In a few ways, his leadership skills are reminiscent of Jalen Hurts<\/a>.
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>Weaknesses<\/b><\/p>\n

Accuracy and Touch on Intermediate Throws<\/b><\/h4>\n

Milroe\u2019s game is all or nothing. His performance on short and intermediate throws has been a concern at Alabama and is what\u2019s stopping him from being a first-round prospect. Again, his arm <\/span>strength <\/span><\/i>is tantalizing, but franchise quarterbacks need to be able to operate the short game to keep an offense on schedule. Milroe lacks any semblance of consistency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), Milroe’s uncatchable pass rate in the intermediate range was 30.1%, ranking fourth worst among draft-eligible quarterbacks. This high rate indicates significant struggles with accuracy in this area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For comparison, Milroe\u2019s inability to stay on schedule is the equivalent of watching a professional basketball player shoot under 50% from the free-throw line. These should be the easy throws or the \u201clay-ups.\u201d And by extension, Milroe\u2019s strengths could very well be limited because of this as well. NFL defenses will scheme QB spies at the line of scrimmage while allocating two high safeties deep to limit the one strength of his passing game- the deep ball. In return, Milroe might struggle to operate a passing game at all levels of the field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pocket Presence\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n

<\/b>Jalen Milroe’s struggles with pocket presence and reading progressions are common critiques in his scouting reports and show up consistently in film and analytics. He often bails clean pockets early to look to run and ignores anticipated throwing lanes. After six years of watching Daniel Jones do the same thing, do the Giants want another quarterback who scrambles to run?<\/span><\/h4>\n

His inconsistency in the pocket also results in the inverse outcome- he holds the ball too long and takes sacks. Like many college quarterbacks, Milroe locks on his target during long developing routes and misses outside pressure coming from the edges. His internal clock is extremely inconsistent, which might not be fixable. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Like a drummer who can\u2019t keep a beat, Milroe\u2019s timing in the pocket always feels slightly off. Locking eyes on a receiver leads to bad footwork, which leads to missed pressure, turnovers, or incompletions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is Milroe Worth the Gamble?<\/b><\/h3>\n

Milroe is an elite athlete with a cannon for an arm, but his current play style leans on improvisation and deep ball accuracy more than on-field processing and controlled operation within the structure of an offense. He\u2019ll need significant refinement to become a consistent NFL passer, especially in a system that demands anticipation, timing, and layered reads.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the draft creeps closer and closer, the feeling is that Milroe might go sooner than expected. Is he worth the gamble with the 34th pick? Or a trade up into the back half of the first round? With a draft stock full of starting-level talent in that range, it\u2019s hard to argue. But don’t rule out Jalen Milroe to the Giants if he falls more than expected.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Giants are looking for their next franchise quarterback in April’s draft, and Jalen Milroe is an intriguing option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5408,"featured_media":228302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,20,1647],"tags":[32605,32826,7416],"class_list":["post-228260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-giants","category-nfl-draft","tag-2025-nfl-draft","tag-jalen-milroe","tag-new-york-giants-draft"],"modified_by":"Will Koshover, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5408"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228260"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228304,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228260\/revisions\/228304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}