Joe Milton’s locker sits two stalls and a door away from the rest of the Eagles quarterbacks. It’s sandwiched between punter Braden Mann and long snapper Rocco Underwood, and is about as barren as one could imagine.
The no-frills nature of the space makes sense given the 26-year-old’s arrival and accelerated ascension with the team, going from the Dallas Cowboys practice squad to the Eagles starting quarterback all within the span of three weeks.
The relatively empty stall calls attention to the two things he does leave behind upon leaving to do his newfound media obligations on Thursday. A three-ring binder with the plays he’s cramming ahead of the team’s matchup against the New York Giants this Sunday and a brand-new iPhone that allows him to ground himself with FaceTime calls with his one-year-old daughter Maleia in the moments he’s not buried in that book.
“When I see her face, it just allows me to be thankful,” Milton said up on the podium Thursday. “So when I see her every night on FaceTime, I just [feel] thankful. So it allows me to take a deep breath and remember where I’m at, and being where my feet [are] is probably the best thing, because you think too far, then you never know what [could happen].”
Milton’s uphill battle onboarding the Eagles playbook has left him not only as a relative unknown for Eagles fans, but for his teammates as well. The Eagles are hoping the limited time on task isn’t a limiting factor against the Giants, turning to the former Tennessee standout who began his NFL career with the New England Patriots to give the offense a badly needed spark amidst a six-game losing streak.
And it doesn’t take a discerning eye to see what the Eagles are hoping to extract. The 6-foot-5, 234-pound quarterback has one of the strongest arms in the NFL and hails from Pahokee, Florida, a small town known for developing elite athletes. Milton’s cousins with former NFL wide receiver Anquan Boldin, a three-time Pro Bowler and also a Pahokee native.
Pahokee is also known for a distinctive, instructive hobby: Chasing rabbits through sugar cane fields.
“In Pahokee, we’re known for chasing rabbits in the muck,” Milton said. “Chasing rabbits, you’re either fast or you’re not. And you either catch the rabbit or you’re not. A lot of people in Pahokee catch rabbits with their hands and a lot of people use cane sticks or whatever they may use. It may sound harmful, but that’s how we had to survive down there in Pahokee.”
“But we made a living off of that,” Milton added. “Did it change my life or have a big impact on my life? No. My mom really didn’t let me do it for real, just because I had bad asthma when I was younger. With all the cane smoke and everything out there, with the tractors, they don’t see us when you’re out there chasing rabbits. So anything can happen. So my mom really didn’t allow me out there as much. I can probably count on my hand how many times I went rabbit hunting. But for the time I did, it was great.”
For the handful of Floridians in the Eagles locker room who grew up within driving range of Milton’s hometown, the legend of Pahokee is well known.
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1 Comment
Michael Curran
The next best shot at a win. December against the Colts.