Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, who has been training with former NFL quarterback Jordan Palmer, checked another box in the pre-draft process by competing at the Alabama Pro Day.
The concerns about Milroe coming into his Pro Day were related to a lack of anticipation and ball placement. He has always had a strong arm and been able to throw with touch down the field, but talent evaluators wanted to see if there was improvement with his footwork. His performance at the Senior Bowl was rocky, but there was noticeable improvement by the time he threw at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis earlier this month.
Milroe looked like he was going for a stroll through the park Wednesday. There was a calmness, almost to a fault, to his performance. His footwork was clean into his drops and there was only one time where it looked as though he may have closed off his hips to his target. The ball comes off his hand with ease, as he validated all positive impressions of his strong arm.
On a few throws in red zone drills — and this calls back to the calmness in his drops — he was a hair late, because there was not a lot of urgency to get back into his drops. Overall, there is little more that could have been done to help his draft stock.
There is no denying that he is the most athletically-gifted quarterback prospect in this class. (His unofficial 4.37-second 40-yard dash time Wednesday would have been ranked second among all running backs at the combine). Milroe possesses great top-end speed and is elusive in open space. Teams know that if they can unlock his potential as a passer, then his ceiling could rise as high as top 10 quarterback in the NFL; a statement that may only be applied elsewhere to Miami’s Cam Ward in this draft class.
People must remember that, even if his fundamentals are improving, it takes time and repetition to formulate muscle memory. All of his mechanics and footwork are being tinkered with in the absence of a live pass rush. Will all of his training still be evident this fall when NFL teams are blitzing him and trying to speed him up? Time will tell.
Quarterback-needy teams will want to continue getting to know what makes Milroe tick and whether a higher level of passing efficiency is possible. As part of that process, he will likely make multiple top-30 visits to teams in the coming weeks.
In the grand scheme of things, he is still in that second, maybe even third, tier of quarterback prospects behind the likes of Ward, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Ole Miss‘ Jaxson Dart in CBSSports.com’s prospect rankings. The most likely outcome is that he is taken somewhere on Day 2, which is probably beneficial to his long-term development.
Hypothetically, he would not be expected to start upon arriving at his new team’s headquarters and can continue to learn and develop at his own pace. The best possible outcome is that he becomes a Jalen Hurts-like success story.
Teams that could be in the mix for Milroe include the Giants, Jets, Raiders, Saints, Steelers and Browns.
The 2025 NFL Draft is to take place from April 24-26 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. More draft coverage can be found at CBSSports.com, including the weekly mock drafts and a regularly available look at the eligible prospects.
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Author: Josh Edwards
March 19, 2025 | 3:10 pm
