The Dallas Cowboys’ trade for Joe Milton III was a bit of a head-scratcher at the time it happened. Milton has the physical tools to be a starting NFL quarterback, but he’s also very clearly a project. Dallas has the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL, so the team didn’t need to invest big money in a backup, but considering how we’ve seen this offense fall apart in the past when Dak Prescott has been injured, grabbing a backup with some experience seems like it would have been a smarter move.

But whatever. I’m no NFL GM, so I tried to give Dallas the benefit of the doubt. Milton really popped at the NFL Combine, and they only gave up a fifth-round pick to get him, so maybe this would work. Maybe they found their long-term Prescott backup and a potential starter if Prescott went down or if Prescott wanes in effectiveness a few years down the line.

Then came the preseason, and I’m right back where I initially was with this move. What’s Dallas doing?

Cowboys may have struck out again in QB trade market with Joe Milton

The Cowboys have never had a reliable backup quarterback for Prescott. Sure, Cooper Rush was fine. Not great, but decent, at least, but it became clear last year that the team was interested in a change at backup quarterback when the team traded a fourth-round pick for Trey Lance.

That Lance trade was a disaster. There’s a reason the former No. 3 overall pick was available for such a cheap price, and it’s because he’s not an NFL quarterback. Lance was a healthy scratch for much of the year, making one start and completing 58.8 percent of his passes in a 23-19 loss to the Commanders.

Dallas realized that the Lance trade was a bad decision, so what did Jerry Jones do? He did it again.

Milton didn’t have the same pre-draft hype as Lance, but they share plenty of similarities. Both have a lot of strong physical traits that suggest they can be major weapons at the quarterback position, but both are also in need of refining those traits into something usable in the NFL.

Lance was unable to do so under the tutelage of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer last year. Can Milton do it under the tutelage of head coach…oh, it’s Brian Schottenheimer again.

Anyway, early signs suggest Milton still has a ways to go. He’s gotten extended playing time in the preseason, but the results have been mediocre. Against the Rams, he was 17-for-29 for 143 yards with a touchdown and an interception while adding 22 rushing yards. That wasn’t too awful of a performance, but the follow-up was. Playing against former Cowboys backup Cooper Rush, Milton was 9-for-18 for 122 yards with an interception and added just six rushing yards.

Nothing about his preseason showing proves he should be the backup quarterback for a team with playoff expectations, though he’s at least outperforming Will Grier, which is…something, I guess?

Dallas just really needed to figure out the backup situation behind Prescott, and they gave up a fairly useful asset to acquire a guy who doesn’t seem ready to actually be the backup behind Prescott.