GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Seahawks’ preseason finale Saturday against the Packers will be interesting for one reason above all others — Jalen Milroe.
Lots of young players vying for roster spots or to make the practice squad will also see action, of course.
With the starters not expected to play, and the Seahawks likely to keep out a few others who have roster spots secured, the focus of the game will mostly fall on Milroe, who was the 92nd overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft out of Alabama.
Coach Mike Macdonald said Thursday that Milroe will start Saturday’s 1 p.m. kickoff against the Packers and play the entire game at quarterback with Sam Darnold and Drew Lock sitting out.
“He’s going to play the whole game,’’ Macdonald said. “It’s going to be awesome.’’
There’s nothing that interests a fan base more than watching the progress of a young quarterback — something Seahawks fans have rarely been able to do the last decade.
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Going the entire way will make it Milroe’s most extended action to date.
He played the second half of the preseason opener against the Raiders, entering with a 16-3 lead and completing 6 of 10 passes for 61 yards and running three times for 38 more as Las Vegas rallied in a 23-23 tie. While Milroe led the Seahawks on one TD drive, three of the five drives he played finished by gaining seven yards or fewer, including the last possession of the game when they couldn’t run out the clock and gave the ball back to the Raiders, who drove for a potential game-winning field goal (which was blocked).
Milroe played the final four series of the second preseason game against Kansas City, a 33-16 Seahawks win.
Three drives lasted six plays or less and ended in punts, while the other was a 12-play, 55-yard drive that ended in a field goal. Milroe had two incompletions once they got to the KC 3-yard-line. He finished the game completing 3 of 5 passes for 46 yards with five rushes for 18 more.
He was tantalizingly inserted for a third-and-one play on the opening drive when he lined up at quarterback with Darnold behind him in the backfield. In a play similar to the Eagles’ Tush Push, Milroe powered forward for 2 yards to get the first down.
Macdonald responded coyly to questions Thursday about whether Milroe could see the field regularly this season in situational plays like the one used against the Chiefs.
“It could be,’’ he said. “We’ve already done it, so it’s on tape. It’s important to be able to get those converted in those short-yard situations. It’s a good play right now.”
It helps that Milroe is 6-foot-2 and weighs 216 pounds.
“That’s part of the reason we’re doing it with him,’’ Macdonald said. “You’ve seen him. He’s a strong person.”
The overriding goal for Milroe and the Seahawks is that he eventually shows he can be a viable every-down quarterback.
For the preseason, he is 9 of 15 passing for 107 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions and one sack taken while rushing eight times for 56 yards.
While there have been flashes from Milroe, the Seahawks are surely hoping to see a little more consistency, both in the presnap operation and in executing plays.
“It’s a great opportunity for him to get great experience,’’ Macdonald said. “All rookies, they need reps, they need experience, and Jalen was right there. I know he’s excited for the opportunity, and he’s going to do a great job. Go out and operate the offense and go play ball the way you know how and let’s go.”
Milroe is just the second quarterback the Seahawks have drafted since 2012, when Russell Wilson arrived as the 75th overall pick and held down the spot for a decade, eliminating the need to draft any others.
The Seahawks took a flyer on Alex McGough in the seventh round in 2018, feeling it was time to add a developmental quarterback.
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But McGough never played in a game for the Seahawks, who more often during the Wilson era relied on a veteran as a backup — notably Tarvaris Jackson from 2013-15, Austin Davis in 2017 and Geno Smith from 2019-21 — and Drew Lock behind Smith in 2022-23.
Wilson remains the only QB drafted by the Seahawks to play in a regular-season game for them since Seneca Wallace was taken in 2003.
Milroe hopes to eventually change that.
When the Seahawks drafted Milroe, some observers wondered if he could duplicate Wilson’s feat of winning the job as a rookie competing against a veteran free agent signee.
But Sam Darnold is not Matt Flynn. Darnold finished 10th in the MVP voting last season. Flynn never even started 10 NFL games (he finished with seven).
Comparing Milroe to Wilson is unfair to each.
Wilson, despite the rocky ending to his Seahawks career and the rockier time he has had since leaving, deserves to be called the best QB in team history.
Wilson came to Seattle at the age of 23 after 53 college starts.
Milroe arrived in Seattle at 22, after 28 college starts.
While Milroe has shown signs during camp of why the Seahawks drafted him, it’s became apparent he needs time to develop.
From the start there was a clear pecking order in the Seahawks’ training camp that made clear this would be a year of development for Milroe. He almost always has worked with the third-team offense with Darnold running the starters and Lock the twos.
What has also been clear to the Seahawks from the start is Milroe’s willingness to do what it takes to improve.
“I want to see him keep growing,’’ offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak said last week. “Not be satisfied and keep pushing to get better. That’s part of his DNA, so I’m not worried about that.”
Asked to assess where he’d seen Milroe grow the most, Kubiak said: “I see him growing confidently. He’s getting more experienced with the concepts. The way that his cadence has made strides and his ability to get in and out of plays and you see the competitive fire coming out of him and in these move-the-ball periods (in practice).”
A game that figures to feature mostly young players and backups for both teams can hardly be considered an litmus test.
But the Seahawks are hoping for the strongest piece of evidence to believe in Milroe’s future.
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta covers the Seahawks for the Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout the year.