Alabama is not exactly the kind of college football program to which one goes looking to be a savior. That certainly wasn’t the case when Jalen Milroe arrived in Tuscaloosa with the Crimson Tide still in the midst of Nick Saban’s historic coaching run.
That’s not necessarily going to be the case in the NFL, depending on where Milroe ends up being drafted at the end of this month. If that place is Cleveland, then there will be a level of those expectations placed on him, if not in 2025 than as early as 2026.
Milroe’s not exactly one who’s going to arrive in the NFL, with the Browns or elsewhere, with a Messiah complex.
“I’m not someone to try to be a savior,” Milroe said at the NFL scouting combine in early March. “I’m someone that’s just trying to better a program as a whole. So it’s all about opportunity. I would love to seize that opportunity as well and grow as a player.”
There’s been some talk of Milroe already growing as a player, just from the time he played his final game at Alabama until now. He’s teamed up with Jordan Palmer, who runs QB Summit, to help him fix many of his fundamental issues.
Those fundamental issues are why many have been critical of Milroe, despite more than 6,000 career passing yards, and more than 2,800 in each of the last two seasons. The struggles came to a head in at the Senior Bowl, where he was 3-for-5 passing for 21 yards in the game after a week of practice during which he was underwhelming in his performance.
“I know that where I’m at today, I’m going to be even better this time next year, and so everything I try to do is for the better of the team and not be one dimensional at all,” Milroe said. “When it comes to physical attributes on the football field, there’s a lot of things I can improve on, but there’s a lot of things can’t. And there’s a lot of things I can definitely say that I can do, and that’s something that I can definitely harp on as a player, and I’m just committed.”
A month’s time between the Senior Bowl and the combine led to marked signs of growth when he threw in Indianapolis. He also had a solid showing in his pro day.
The Browns held their own private workout with Milroe two weeks ago, attended by owner Jimmy Haslam, general manager Andrew Berry, coach Kevin Stefanski, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees — who was Milroe’s offensive coordinator in 2023 — and quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave, among others. That allowed Stefanski and others who had watched Milroe at both the Senior Bowl and combine to gauge how much he’d improved in that span.
Milroe was one of three quarterbacks who were in Berea on Tuesday, along with Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart and Louisville’s Tyler Shough. The Browns have also met multiple times with Miami quarterback Cam Ward and Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
“I don’t know if I’d say improvement,” Stefanski told a group of Browns beat writers, including the Beacon Journal, at the AFC coaches breakfast at the owners meetings last week. “I mean, obviously, I know the Senior Bowl, you get in the seven on seven or that type of drill, so this is on air. But, yeah, I think you’re always looking at mechanics and how you could help a player.
“I think the biggest thing is it’s such a body of work, it’s such an all-encompassing thing when you’re talking about evaluating these guys. So you don’t want to say, hey, he had a great throwing session that one day that shoots him up your draft board. You take all of this into account.”
Kalen DeBoer only coached Milroe one season after replacing Saban following his retirement. However, that one season with the quarterback showed him Milroe’s work ethic.
That was most notable to DeBoer after some of Milroe’s worst performances. He said in a February interview with the Beacon Journal how the quarterback bounced back from a three-interception game against Oklahoma in November that essentially ended Alabama’s playoff hopes.
“He did what I would’ve expected him and he needs to do, and that’s you come back the next day and you’re learning and you’re getting better because of it,” DeBoer told the Beacon Journal. “You win and you learn, and you also got to learn when you lose, and that’s the harder one pill to swallow.
“So he did what he had to do, and what he had shown in other situations where maybe the team came up short, whether it was things that fell more on him or on other guys or it was just we’d now be better across the board. He came back and was strong in the face of everything.”
That’s all part of a journey that started when Milroe arrived at a place where success is only measured in national championships. It’s continued as he’s tried to show various NFL scouts, personnel executives and coaches the raw talent they saw at Alabama has grown into a more polished prospect they can trust with their franchise.
That journey, Milroe said, is central to his ability to become a franchise quarterback — and, in some cases, franchise savior — for the team that takes a chance on him in this month’s draft.
“The biggest thing as a player would be better than you were the day before and try to strive for greatness,” Milroe said. “Climbing a mountain ain’t easy, but when you get to the top of the mountain you’ll learn so many things when it comes to adversity, when it comes to hardship, things along the way.
“And so I had all that throughout my journey as a player, and so I’m just looking to lead or looking to grow as a player and be better than I was this past season.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at [email protected]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jalen Milroe trying to grow as QB, not trying to ‘save’ an NFL team
Alabama is not exactly the kind of college football program to which one goes looking to be a savior. That certainly wasn’t the case when Jalen Milroe arrived in Tuscaloosa with the Crimson Tide still in the midst of Nick Saban’s historic coaching run.
That’s not necessarily going to be the case in the NFL, depending on where Milroe ends up being drafted at the end of this month. If that place is Cleveland, then there will be a level of those expectations placed on him, if not in 2025 than as early as 2026.
Milroe’s not exactly one who’s going to arrive in the NFL, with the Browns or elsewhere, with a Messiah complex.
“I’m not someone to try to be a savior,” Milroe said at the NFL scouting combine in early March. “I’m someone that’s just trying to better a program as a whole. So it’s all about opportunity. I would love to seize that opportunity as well and grow as a player.”
There’s been some talk of Milroe already growing as a player, just from the time he played his final game at Alabama until now. He’s teamed up with Jordan Palmer, who runs QB Summit, to help him fix many of his fundamental issues.
Those fundamental issues are why many have been critical of Milroe, despite more than 6,000 career passing yards, and more than 2,800 in each of the last two seasons. The struggles came to a head in at the Senior Bowl, where he was 3-for-5 passing for 21 yards in the game after a week of practice during which he was underwhelming in his performance.
“I know that where I’m at today, I’m going to be even better this time next year, and so everything I try to do is for the better of the team and not be one dimensional at all,” Milroe said. “When it comes to physical attributes on the football field, there’s a lot of things I can improve on, but there’s a lot of things can’t. And there’s a lot of things I can definitely say that I can do, and that’s something that I can definitely harp on as a player, and I’m just committed.”
A month’s time between the Senior Bowl and the combine led to marked signs of growth when he threw in Indianapolis. He also had a solid showing in his pro day.
The Browns held their own private workout with Milroe two weeks ago, attended by owner Jimmy Haslam, general manager Andrew Berry, coach Kevin Stefanski, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees — who was Milroe’s offensive coordinator in 2023 — and quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave, among others. That allowed Stefanski and others who had watched Milroe at both the Senior Bowl and combine to gauge how much he’d improved in that span.
Milroe was one of three quarterbacks who were in Berea on Tuesday, along with Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart and Louisville’s Tyler Shough. The Browns have also met multiple times with Miami quarterback Cam Ward and Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
“I don’t know if I’d say improvement,” Stefanski told a group of Browns beat writers, including the Beacon Journal, at the AFC coaches breakfast at the owners meetings last week. “I mean, obviously, I know the Senior Bowl, you get in the seven on seven or that type of drill, so this is on air. But, yeah, I think you’re always looking at mechanics and how you could help a player.
“I think the biggest thing is it’s such a body of work, it’s such an all-encompassing thing when you’re talking about evaluating these guys. So you don’t want to say, hey, he had a great throwing session that one day that shoots him up your draft board. You take all of this into account.”
Kalen DeBoer only coached Milroe one season after replacing Saban following his retirement. However, that one season with the quarterback showed him Milroe’s work ethic.
That was most notable to DeBoer after some of Milroe’s worst performances. He said in a February interview with the Beacon Journal how the quarterback bounced back from a three-interception game against Oklahoma in November that essentially ended Alabama’s playoff hopes.
“He did what I would’ve expected him and he needs to do, and that’s you come back the next day and you’re learning and you’re getting better because of it,” DeBoer told the Beacon Journal. “You win and you learn, and you also got to learn when you lose, and that’s the harder one pill to swallow.
“So he did what he had to do, and what he had shown in other situations where maybe the team came up short, whether it was things that fell more on him or on other guys or it was just we’d now be better across the board. He came back and was strong in the face of everything.”
That’s all part of a journey that started when Milroe arrived at a place where success is only measured in national championships. It’s continued as he’s tried to show various NFL scouts, personnel executives and coaches the raw talent they saw at Alabama has grown into a more polished prospect they can trust with their franchise.
That journey, Milroe said, is central to his ability to become a franchise quarterback — and, in some cases, franchise savior — for the team that takes a chance on him in this month’s draft.
“The biggest thing as a player would be better than you were the day before and try to strive for greatness,” Milroe said. “Climbing a mountain ain’t easy, but when you get to the top of the mountain you’ll learn so many things when it comes to adversity, when it comes to hardship, things along the way.
“And so I had all that throughout my journey as a player, and so I’m just looking to lead or looking to grow as a player and be better than I was this past season.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at [email protected]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jalen Milroe trying to grow as QB, not trying to ‘save’ an NFL team
