The Dallas Cowboys are releasing quarterback Joe Milton III, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Monday, a sudden roster move one day after the team included him on its initial 53-man roster.
“Source: Cowboys are releasing QB Joe Milton,” Schefter posted.
The decision ends a closely watched backup competition behind Dak Prescott and reverses the approach Dallas appeared to take Sunday, when it kept three quarterbacks: Prescott, Milton and free-agent addition Sam Howell.
Milton, 26, arrived in Dallas last year in a trade with the New England Patriots. The Cowboys sent a 2025 fifth-round pick to New England and received Milton and a seventh-round selection after Cooper Rush left in free agency.
A sixth-round pick by the Patriots in 2024 out of Tennessee, Milton made his only start-like appearance as a rookie in Week 18 against Buffalo, completing 22 of 29 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown in a 23-16 win. He also ran for a score.
Dallas used him as Prescott’s primary backup in 2025. Milton appeared in four games, completing 15 of 24 passes for 183 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He added 50 rushing yards on five carries.
This summer, the Cowboys signed Howell to create a true competition. Coach Brian Schottenheimer said training camp itself favored neither man for long.
“If you would just take the training camp competition, it’s probably neck and neck, and Sam maybe a little bit ahead,” Schottenheimer said after Milton’s second preseason start.
Milton then seized the spotlight. He completed 12 of 15 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown against Seattle, then went 9 of 13 for 179 yards and two scores at Arizona, adding a rushing touchdown. His 151.4 passer rating against the Cardinals came within a completion of a perfect mark.
Through those first two halves, Milton was 21 of 28 for 286 yards with three passing touchdowns, no interceptions and a rushing score. He said afterward that the offense finally felt natural.
“My comfort level was amazing. Way more comfortable that I was last year,” Milton said.
The finale changed the picture. Milton started against New Orleans on Aug. 28 and finished 8 of 15 for 92 yards. Howell entered in the second half and completed 12 of 18 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns, adding a tying two-point conversion run in a 27-24 loss.
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones suggested Dallas might keep both.
“That’s one that we may just split the difference and have two backup quarterbacks here is the easy way to do it,” Jones said.
The Cowboys did exactly that on cutdown day, listing Prescott, Milton and Howell among their 53. Carrying a third quarterback costs a roster spot at another position, and teams can designate an emergency quarterback on game days without dressing three.
Releasing Milton now, after Monday’s waiver-claim window on Sunday’s cuts, leaves Howell as the clear No. 2 behind Prescott. The 6-foot-5, 236-pound Milton still possesses rare arm strength and size, traits that made him a trade target last spring and a practice-squad candidate if he clears the market.
Dallas opens the regular season Sept. 13 at the New York Giants. Prescott, entering his 11th season, did not play in the preseason.
Milton called the 2025 trade a turning point when he first arrived.
“Coming here was a blessing,” he said then. The Cowboys have now decided that blessing will continue somewhere else.
