GLENDALE, Ariz. — Joe Milton III has thrown 28 passes across two preseason games and has not been intercepted. He is 21-of-28 for 286 yards with three touchdown passes, and he added a 1-yard rushing score in the Dallas Cowboys‘ 34-13 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night.
Sam Howell is 15-of-22 for 159 yards with one touchdown and one interception over the same two games.
Milton started against Arizona after Howell started the preseason opener at Seattle. Neither has been named the backup to Dak Prescott.
Milton is more confident than he was a year ago and said his comfort level Saturday was amazing.
“Comfort level, tonight was great. I was able to go out there and showcase what I got, what we’ve been working hard towards this whole camp, so it was great,” Milton said. “My comfort level was amazing. Way more confident than I was last year.”
Milton went 9-of-13 for 179 yards with two touchdown passes and a 151.4 passer rating against the Cardinals. He threw a 53-yard touchdown to Jonathan Mingo, an 8-yard touchdown to Malik Davis, and a 70-yard pass to Camden Brown that set up his own touchdown run.
Asked which of the three gave him the most satisfaction, Milton did not separate them.
“All of them. They’re all opportunities to move the ball down the field, and that’s what we’re here to do,” Milton explained. “So all of them, for sure.”
What He Says He Is Most Proud Of
The progress Milton points to is not the throws. It is the huddle.
“That I’m able to go in the huddle and just say the play clear, tell the guys where they need to go, and if guys have questions in the huddle, I’m able to answer those without just making sure with my coach and making sure that I’m right,” Milton said. “I’m able to be confident enough to tell them what they got in the huddle and demand that from them guys.”
Milton is 26 and in his third professional season. New England drafted him in the sixth round in 2024 out of Tennessee, and Dallas acquired him last offseason. He appeared in four games for the Cowboys in 2025, going 15-of-24 for 183 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, and rushed five times for 50 yards.
He describes himself as a very confident person and said he tells himself his game is where it needs to be regardless of what is left to work on.
“Anytime I look in the mirror, I tell myself that my game is up to par, right where I need it to be, even if I do need stuff to work on, just because that’s just the confidence you have to instill in yourself,” Milton said. “And that’s just the person I am.”
Two preseason performances have not changed that self-assessment so much as added to it.
“I definitely get to learn from them, but also it just gives me more confidence. Just keep going out there, just deliver the football, understand the game plan, understand what the defense is trying to do to me and how they’re going to play me,” Milton said. “So just going out there and just executing.”
The decision itself is not his.
“That’s out of my control. Only thing I’m able to do is just go out there and call the play and just make sure the offense is moving,” Milton said. “So whatever they decide, they decide.”
Sam Howell’s Two Starts Behind Him
Howell played the entire first half at Seattle and went 8-of-12 for 94 yards with a 39-yard touchdown to Brown. He took over after halftime against Arizona and went 7-of-10 for 65 yards with an interception in the end zone and a 47.9 rating.
Howell’s approach through the competition has not moved with the results.
“I just take it one day at a time, control what I can control, and try to put my best foot forward each and every day,” Howell said. “And that’s been my mindset kind of throughout this whole entire thing, and that will continue to be my mindset.”
Howell was a fifth-round pick of Washington in 2022, taken 144th overall out of North Carolina. He started all 17 games for the Commanders in 2023, spent 2024 with Seattle, and split last season between Minnesota’s practice squad and Philadelphia without appearing in a regular-season game. Across four seasons he has completed 62.6% of his passes for 4,139 yards with 22 touchdowns, 23 interceptions, and a 77.5 rating.
Milton played 31 offensive snaps Saturday. Howell played 28.
What Teammates Have Seen
Jaydon Blue entered the league in the same 2025 class Milton spent his first year in Dallas with, and said Milton arrived at camp this summer as a different person.
“Joe’s got a lot better than what he was last year. He’s dialed in. He came into camp as a totally different person. I’m proud of him. I see him every day,” Blue said. “He’s learning from that. He’s learning from Sam. They all learning from each other. But he’s really locked in to the game. He’s ready. He’s probably playing his best football that I’ve seen him play since I got drafted last year.”
Mingo has thrown with Milton one-on-one during the offseason.
“He’s comfortable in the offense. Got a whole season in the offense and everything, so me and him got good chemistry,” Mingo said. “We throw a lot in the offseason together, too, me and him one-on-one, so we kind of learn each other.”
Dallas has one preseason game left to sort it. The Cowboys host the New Orleans Saints on Friday at 7 p.m. CT at AT&T Stadium, and the game airs on CBS 11 and ESPN. Rosters cut to 53 after it. Prescott has not played in a preseason game since 2019.
