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# Where Must Jalen Milroe Progress to Become Potential Franchise QB For Seahawks?
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/where-must-jalen-milroe-progress-become-potential-franchise-qb-for-seahawks/
- Published: 2025-05-05T19:06:10.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:20:25.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Seahawks, Jalen Milroe

Only two years ago, Jalen Milroe looked to be on a trajectory to hear his name called as a first round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft after finishing sixth in Heisman Trophy balloting following his first year as a starter at Alabama.

But while Milroe had his moments where he flashed first round talent in 2024, his overall numbers declined across the board in his second season under center for the Crimson Tide, as he threw just 16 touchdowns - seven fewer than he did the season prior - and saw his interception total jump to 11\. An underwhelming performance at the Senior Bowl didn’t help his cause, leading to him tumbling out of the first two rounds after being invited to the green room for opening night.

However, Milroe’s free fall finally ended when the Seahawks - who were impressed by him in an official 30 meeting - took a shot with the 92nd overall pick in the third round, bringing an uber-talented, yet unpolished signal caller into the fold to develop behind starter Sam Darnold and veteran backup Drew Lock. With coach Mike Macdonald watching closely, the journey to unlock his immense potential began this past weekend with him participating in the team’s annual rookie minicamp.

“He's got great energy, great competitive energy. He's trying to get it right,” Macdonald said of Milroe after Saturday’s second practice. “Great command of the huddle. Really takes pride in the operation. All the fundamental things we're going to be building on from the ground up, he's just got a great attitude about it.”

With Darnold and Lock under contract through at least the 2026 season, Seattle provided the ideal landing spot for Milroe, who possesses a live arm and elite athletic traits, including sub-4.4 40-yard dash speed, but will need seasoning before he’s ready to potentially take over as a starting quarterback. As a third-round pick, if he winds up developing, the franchise could have a superstar waiting in the wings. If he doesn’t hit, then they can go back to the drawing board and select another quarterback in an upcoming draft and it’s no harm, no foul.

For Milroe to emerge as a potential franchise quarterback for the Seahawks, where must he make the most progress over the next couple of seasons? Here are three critical areas of improvement in his game that will dictate whether he’s a future starter or will be entrenched as a backup on the depth chart:

### Significant growth feeling pressure in the pocket presence department.

Possessing rare speed for the quarterback position with the build of a strong safety, Milroe created headaches for opposing defensive coordinators with his ability to churn out big chunks of yardage on designed runs and extending pass plays as a scrambler. That athleticism helped him escape the pocket from duress plenty of times, which makes the pressure numbers against him each of the past two seasons all the more baffling.In his first season as a starter at Alabama, PFF charged Milroe for responsibility on 22.6 percent of his pressures for the season, the sixth-worst among qualified quarterbacks at the FBS level, and this high percentage came as a consequence of consistently holding onto the ball too long and not having a comfortable feel for when pressure began to bear down on him in the pocket. Statistically, he averaged 3.68 seconds per drop back on plays where he was sacked - 10 of those plays in which he was charged with the sack instead of the offensive line - and he finished with the second-highest average time to throw on all drop backs.

### Quicker processing, particularly in intermediate passing game.

Winning the William V. Campbell Trophy, which has earned the nickname “Academic Heisman” as the honor bestowed on the player with the best combination of academics, leadership, and on-field performance, Milroe clearly has the smarts to digest an NFL playbook and read defenses. But while he showed the ability to carve up defenses when playing with confidence in two years as a starter at Alabama, he had a tendency to lock onto receivers and reading through his progressions in a timely manner proved to be a difficult task sometimes, especially against SEC competition where he threw more interceptions than touchdowns last year.“You gotta be smart at the quarterback position. You gotta prepare,” Milroe said. “You gotta emphasize how much you love football and how much you care because if you care, it's gonna wear off on other guys because your presence and how you communicate with the guy, communicate a play call. Also understanding the operation, understanding the schemes because we're playing NFL now. You gotta play on time, you gotta understand your assignment.”When Milroe takes a five or seven-step drop and has an opportunity to take shots downfield, he has been a far more consistent passer, as those concepts often don’t require him to transition through multiple reads. This was especially true during the 2023 season, where he exhibited remarkable accuracy and efficiency on 20-plus yard throws.Where Milroe has gotten into trouble is when he has to rapidly transition through several progressions in the short to intermediate game off shorter drops, as his accuracy tends to plummet once he moves off of his initial hot route and can get rattled hurrying through reads. In each of the past two seasons for the Crimson Tide, he completed under 60 percent of his throws traveling 10 to 19 yards, including ranking a dreadful 90th in completion rate in 2023\. Though those numbers would have been better with adjusted completion rate based on a bunch of drops by receivers, he still threw more interceptions than touchdowns on such passes and he continued to miss far too often on those throws in Mobile in January.Some of that boils down to mechanics as mentioned previously, but Milroe also has a ways to go in the mental part of the game before he’s ready to take significant snaps at the NFL level, which could be seen on an ugly pick thrown in the second minicamp session where he locked onto a tight end on a post route and didn’t see safety Tanner Volk from two-high, leading to the turnover. Set to use a virtual reality headset to help aid his development, he will have to exhibit strong growth working more swiftly through his progressions with composure as well as throwing receivers open with anticipation, an area he struggled at during college, given the tighter windows presented against NFL defenses.

### More consistent mechanics, starting from the ground up.

For most quarterbacks, mechanics tend to go awry more often on passes further downfield. But in the case of Milroe, he has been the opposite, displaying picturesque form as a deep ball thrower that has resulted in outstanding results on passes traveling 20-plus yards. Last season, he threw 10 of his 16 touchdowns on such passes with a 93.1 deep ball grade from Pro Football Focus, and he had 26 touchdowns and 26 “Big Time Throws” in 2023 as well, solidifying his standing as one of college football’s most prolific downfield passers.However, Milroe’s fundamentals seemed to get away from him on shorter drops in the quick passing game, starting with a narrow base and a consistent lack of drive off of his back foot, leading to overthrows and errant passes. Watching in person, it looks as if there’s less comfort in the quick drop game, which can result in rushed, sloppy footwork that has a negative ripple effect on the rest of his throwing mechanics as a consequence.If there’s good news on this front, Milroe and his quarterback coach Jordan Palmer already have taken notice of this issue, attacking it head on during the pre-draft process, especially coming off an uneven week at the Senior Bowl. Even between the first and second rookie minicamp session, he showed improvement from the hips down, dropping back under control and consistently unloading the ball with a wider base and more drive off the back leg, allowing him to fire darts all over the field with accuracy and zip during passing drills.“The biggest thing is everything works from the ground up at the core position, understanding the lower half mechanics of how I operate,” Milroe told reporters after Friday’s practice. “Every quarterback is different and so doing a really deep understanding of how my body functions at the core position with throwing a ball. Understanding how to distribute my body when it comes to the lower half mechanics and things like that, it's been a focus for us. With that, it's all about being an efficient passer. The more you work, the more you understand your body, you're going to be more of an efficient passer. So, that's something that we work on and continue to work on so I could be the best quarterback I can be."The next step for Milroe will be transitioning his noticeable improvements to scrimmage action, as it is one thing to hone in on mechanics completing passes on air and a whole other ordeal when NFL pass rushers are coming after you. This will be a battle that he has to wage for quite some time, as thousands of reps will be needed to make mechanical changes a permanent part of his game and transitioning those modifications to actual game action to sync up with his quick, compact release will be the biggest hurdle moving forward. 

Last season, to Milroe’s credit, he did make substantial improvements being accountable for 15.6 percent of his own pressures, dropping down to 53rd among FBS quarterbacks. He also rushed for 200 yards as a scrambler in Kalen DeBoer’s offense, finding ways to vacate the pocket to create with his legs and alleviate some of the pressure that got to him in 2023.

But Milroe ranked in the top 30 in average time to throw and still sat just outside the top 10 in sacks taken (nine) that were charged to him instead of the blockers up front. He also didn’t finish his final season on a strong note, taking eight sacks against Auburn and Michigan with a 34 percent sack to pressure ratio, seeming oblivious to the rush far too often without a timer to unload the ball or try to scramble, leading several times to fumbles and turnovers.

That clock only will tick faster in the NFL and while Milroe’s speed and playmaking as a runner gives him more a little more leeway to hang onto the ball longer with the ability to take off and stress the defense that way, his pocket presence remains a major work in progress after regressing over the course of last season. If he doesn’t develop better awareness of what is going on around him in the pocket, he’s going to be susceptible to frequent punishment and hurt his team by taking far too many sacks and/or coughing up too many fumbles, which would make it challenging to hold onto a starting job in the league.