Joe Milton Gets His Shot in Philly | The Story with Rachel Nichols

Joe Milton has spent his entire career waiting for his shot and now Philadelphia is giving him one when the Eagles need it the most. Welcome to the story. I'm Rachel Nichols. Now I want to start out in Philadelphia. So at the top of the week, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was asked about his quarterback for this Sunday's game against the Giants. And he was very firm, saying, quote, Tanner's our guy. We are not making any changes there. Fast forward to yesterday when the Eagles made a change there. Backup Tanner McKee is out. Joe Milton is in. And Sunday will be the first start of his NFL career, which is almost hard to believe given how long we've been hearing about him Milton spent six seasons in college, starting at Michigan and finishing at Tennessee. You know, where he led the Vols past seventh-ranked Clemson in the Orange Bowl? You might remember that. He won the game's MVP. Again, though, let me repeat that. Six seasons. So it's safe to say that when he entered the draft at the age of 24, he was a known quantity. And scouts had a lot of opinions on him. They loved his arm talent, citing effortless, high-velocity throws down the length of the field. He was tall and strong with a build like a tight end and was just as tough outside the pocket as inside, easily earning yards with his legs. Oh, and his release was called Lightning Quick. Milton told teams he could throw as far as 90 yards downfield with a football. Other objects are another story. Here's a video you may remember of Milton throwing an orange 100 yards down the practice field. Although you can hear it clang when it lands, so maybe it would have gone even further if there wasn't a wall there. We're going to see how far we can throw this orange right here. Let's do it. The orange, I'm sad to say, did not make it. But Milton's arm strength did become a bit of a legend. So how was he not drafted until the Patriots took him in the sixth round? Well, scouts had a lot of red flags for Milton as well. He wasn't seen to have that much touch. His accuracy was often questioned. And through those six years of college... Scouts said he never developed the processing or anticipation skills that one would expect out of a 24-year-old. His footwork and delivery also had some mechanical flaws. Now, Milton played exactly one game in New England in the final week of his rookie season. Then the Patriots traded him to Dallas, where he spent last year backing up Dak Prescott. Now, from the outside, at least, it seemed like it was going pretty well. In camp last summer, Prescott said he put Milton's arm up against anyone's. And Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer, he compared Milton's arm to Brett Favre's. Then this preseason in Dallas, he threw for 378 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions. Still, Dallas gave Sam Howell the backup job, leaving Milton to start this season on the Cowboys' practice squad, waiting again. Here's the thing, though, about today's NFL. You wait long enough, and someone is going to need a quarterback. In this case, that someone was Philadelphia, whose trail of disasters at that position this season have been well-documented. Most recently, they've been going with McKee, who has lost all three of his starts, and clearly looked bad enough on game film that Sirianni reversed that whole Tanner's our guy thing. Now it's Milton's turn, and honestly, it may be his last real shot. He's 26, he's on his third NFL team, and he's already been cut once this year. A quarterback like that doesn't get many more auditions. So whatever he puts on tape against the Giants, it's what the rest of the league is going to remember. And frankly, I'd say it may be the Eagles' last chance this season, too. The Giants come into Philadelphia leading the division, and right after that, the Eagles have their bye. Lose, and they spend two weeks staring at 2-7. win, and they at least head into the break with a pulse and a quarterback, a whole lot of people have been spending a long time waiting to see. All right, let's get to the NBA, where yesterday we found out that the Golden State Warriors have stopped paying one of their own players. Kristaps Porzingis had signed a two-year, $40 million deal this summer, but the same health problems that had marked his last few seasons prevented him from ever stepping onto the court afterward. In fact, he hasn't even been with the team, and the Warriors have decided that if he isn't doing the job, they aren't cutting the checks Now, I know, At first, this sounds a little harsh, considering KP isn't missing time due to laziness. Nobody outside Kristaps' circle knows exactly what he's dealing with, but he's talked before about being diagnosed with a condition called POTS. It can send your heart rate soaring just from standing up, not to mention the Achilles tendonitis and the inflammation issues that have dogged him in recent years. You know, I've spoken to Kristaps over that period, and it was a bit heartbreaking, I gotta tell you, seeing just how disappointed and frustrated he was. So as we discuss this whole contract stuff, it's important to remember that the headline here is that a warm, talented and some ways revolutionary basketball player is watching his career end. This is the guy Kevin Durant once nicknamed the unicorn, the guy who lit up Madison Square Garden and made the All-Star game by age 22, the guy who battled through injuries at the NBA finals to help Boston clinch a title. And now he is reportedly on track to retire, which is why that despite his game checks each nearing a quarter of a million dollars, neither he nor the Players Association is fighting the Warriors' decision to stop paying those checks. In fact, Porzingis even seems like he may be willing to help Golden State out a little bit, stave off any official retirement decision. And that way the Warriors can use him, or more specifically his contract, to make a trade. The idea is that a team looking for cap relief would send the Warriors a player, most probably a center, since that is what the team is most in need of. And in exchange, Golden State would send over KP's contract, which could then be bought out. It would be a good move for the Warriors. You know, they had that 0-3 kind of disastrous start, but now they've won five straight thanks to an absolutely explosive Steph Curry. If Golden State can at least hold on to a decent record in the months before Jimmy Butler returns, once he actually does, they may actually be able to make some noise in the playoffs. And Kristaps, well, whatever he decides to do next, I hope he gets to do it healthy and on his own terms. He's earned that much and a whole lot more. All right, I want to get back to football because Cowboys star Micah Parsons practiced yesterday for the first time since tearing his ACL more than 10 months ago. And then he did something I don't think I've ever heard Micah say before. He lowered everyone's expectations. Remember, this is the man who once said, I don't think I just want to be in the Hall of Fame. I want to be known as one of the greatest Hall of Famers. Yeah, that's Micah. But that's when he was healthy. And Parsons certainly Lately, as you may remember, this wasn't a simple ACL tear. Micah also needed a full meniscus repair in that same knee, which is why his rehab has stretched past 300 days. Yesterday was individual drills only, and it started a 21-day clock for the Packers to put him back on the active roster. That clock runs out on November 25th, which just happens to be the night before the Thanksgiving Day game when the Packers play the Rams, which is tantalizing. Except Micah wouldn't promise he'd even be back for that one. Here's how he summed up the state of things after practice yesterday. My conditioning right now is probably the worst it's been in my career, you know what I mean? And that's just the reality of it. Am I going to go out there and play 50, 60 snaps how I was doing before? Absolutely not. Like, it's just not realistic. You know, I really respect that, because you can't forget the pressure he is under. Green Bay sent Dallas two first-round picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark for this guy, then handed him a four-year, $188 million contract. When you're getting those checks, you know that the team and its fans want to see you actually on the field. But Micah has stressed he wants to make absolutely sure he is completely healthy with no elevated risk of re-injury before he does return. He said rehab has been particularly lonely. He has no interest in traveling down that path again. And the Packers are doing okay enough without him that there hasn't been a push from the front office for him to speed things up. Green Bay is 5-3. Now that's fourth in their own division, but it's still good enough right now for the NFC's last wildcard spot. If things keep going this way, Micah would likely return just in time for the final push to the playoffs and any postseason games that this team manages to play. And Micah, at that time of year, well, that's who the Packers really traded for. All right, let's finish up with some baseball, because the Houston Astros are reportedly interviewing Albert Pujols to be their new manager. This is basically to me like asking Shredder to come take Master Splinter's place with the Ninja Turtles. I mean, come on, man. For more than a decade, Pujols was the lead archvillain in Houston's story. He had 62 home runs off the Astros, his most against any team, and he got booed just about every time he came to the plate there. So how exactly is it Albert who seems to have a very good chance of landing this job? Because, well, he may already have a man on the inside. The Astros have a new GM, Randy Flores, who, oh, spent eight seasons as the Cardinals assistant GM. He also was a teammate of Albert's for five years. Now, Flores hasn't been able to talk specifically about Pujols because even though Albert is retired, he's technically still on the Angels payroll as part of a personal services deal. But when Flores was asked about, oh, I don't know, bringing in an old Cardinals teammate, You know, any Cardinals teammate that happens to be a 6'3 legendary slugger. You know, whatever. He smiled, and he said he'd lean on his network. Two days later, guess who landed on the interview list? Give it a few more weeks, and somebody's going to notice that the Astros' clubhouse carpet is turning a suspicious shade of red. Personally, you know, I hope Pujols gets a shot. He's wanted to manage in the majors since he retired in 2022. But when he interviewed with the Padres and the Angels last winter, both teams passed on him. Instead, he managed the Dominican Republic's team at the World Baseball Classic. And I got to tell you, if you missed that run, I feel sorry for you because it was an absolute ball. The team ended up placing third. Set a WBC record with 15 home runs and otherwise had, I think, the most fun of any team in any sport anyone has possibly ever had. There were bat flips, there were props, there was a dugout that most of the time looked like a mini mosh pit. Now, Pujols made it clear no one should expect him to preside over quite that level of exuberance in an MLB game. But I do think he'll bring a little fun and some wins as well. And if this works out, well, Astros fans are going to have to start cheering for the guy they spent years booing. You know, in most cartoons, the villain gets chased out of town at the end. In this one, he might actually get handed the lineup card. You know, that's what makes sports special, because at Sports Illustrated, the games may end, but the stories don't. I'm Rachel Nichols. Thanks for watching the story. See you next time.