The Patriots seemed far too willing to trade away Joe Milton III, and there might be some members of Drake Maye’s camp who added to that motivation.

New England traded Milton to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2025 fifth-round pick Thursday. The Patriots reportedly had a better deal from another team but wanted to do right by the 25-year-old and send him to the best place for his career. That report didn’t sit right with fans.

Milton in Foxboro, Mass., and didn’t seem to sit right with Drake Maye’s family, according to a Patriots insider.

“Indeed, a league source said last month at the NFL Combine that Maye’s family was not thrilled when Milton was drafted,” The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin wrote in a column Friday. “Maye also didn’t look too pleased about giving up the Week 18 game to Milton, leaving the locker room without speaking to reporters and then skipping locker room cleanout day.”

Volin got into his own analysis and speculation, but even at the time, the Patriots using a sixth-round pick on Milton also raised question marks with fans. Washington famously did something similar in 2012 when it drafted Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins in the same draft. However, it’s possible Maye’s family had similar concerns as other fans that New England didn’t have full confidence in the North Carolina product.

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One other reason the Patriots traded Milton reportedly was that the Tennessee product wasn’t viewed as an ideal backup for Maye. The young gunslinger openly wants to start, and that mindset wasn’t seen as best for Maye’s development compared to a veteran like Joshua Dobbs.

Whether or not the Patriots will regret trading Milton or not receiving more for the quarterback will remain to be seen, but the motivations behind it certainly will be questioned for months.

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