Eagles steal QB from Cowboys: Joe Milton expected to sign with Philadelphia after injury to Jalen Hurts

Joe Milton joins Tanner McKee and rookie Cole Payton in Philadelphia, a move that raises the possibility of Jalen Hurts eventually landing on injured reserve

Oct 16, 2026 at 12:02 pm ET • 3 min read

With Jalen Hurts out this week due to a blood clot, the Philadelphia Eagles ended up stealing a player from the Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles are going to sign Joe Milton off of the Cowboys' practice squad, according to multiple reports. Under NFL rules, if you sign a player off another team's practice squad, that player has to be placed on your 53-man roster, so Milton won't be a practice squad player in Philadelphia; he'll be on the actual roster. 

Eagles quarterback situation

With the addition of Milton, that means the Eagles will have three quarterbacks heading into Sunday's game against Carolina. Milton will join Tanner McKee and rookie Cole Payton. Hurts has already been ruled out due to a blood clot in his calf and it's unknown when he can return to the field. 

For Sunday, the Eagles will hand the starting job over to McKee, but clearly, they weren't comfortable with only having a rookie behind him, which is why they went out and added Milton. There was some speculation that the Eagles might look to bring Andy Dalton back to Philadelphia, but in the end, the team decided to go with Milton. 

The Eagles offense is at its best when a mobile quarterback is under center, and that's why the decision to add Milton certainly makes some sense. Although he's never started a game before, he does come with some serious mobility, but he is inexperienced. 

Milton is now on his third team in three seasons and he's thrown just 53 passes in that span. He started his career with the Patriots after New England selected him in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. After one year of sitting behind Drake Maye (and Jacoby Brissett), he was traded to the Cowboys in April 2025. During the 2025 season, he saw action in four different games while backing up Dak Prescott. 

During the 2026 offseason, the Cowboys made a trade for Sam Howell, and he ended up beating Milton out for the backup QB job. The Cowboys ended up cutting Milton after the preseason in a move that seemed to blindside the 26-year-old QB. 

"It was shocking. But it's life. You got to be able to live with it and deliver blows back when it's time," Milton said at the time. "I'm still the best quarterback in my eyes. It is what it is. It's something you got to live with and take to the chin."

The Cowboys signed Milton to their practice squad and that's where he's spent the past five weeks until the Eagles made their move on Friday. 

What this could mean for Jalen Hurts

The fact that the Eagles are adding a quarterback likely signifies that Hurts will be out for more than one game. If they thought he was only going to be out for a week, they probably would have been comfortable with Payton as the backup for just one game, but if Hurts is going to miss an extended amount of time, then it certainly makes sense to add another quarterback, which is what Philly ended up doing. 

The Eagles didn't go into detail about the nature of the clot that Hurts is dealing with, but ESPN has reported that he'll be out indefinitely "until this situation is solved." At this point, it seems like almost a given that the Eagles will end up putting Hurts on injured reserve. If they DON'T go that route, that means they'd have to carry four quarterbacks on their 53-man roster, which wouldn't make sense for a team that currently has 24 players on its injury report.

Also, if the Eagles put him on IR now, that would give Hurts five weeks to heal. After facing the Panthers this week, the Eagles will have three divisional games with the Cowboys (Week 7), Commanders (Week 8) and Giants (Week 9) before getting a bye in Week 10. So putting Hurts on IR would give him more than a month to recover. The Eagles first game after their bye is on Nov. 22 against the Steelers.