On principle, it's not surprising that the New England Patriots traded Joe Milton III.
The team has its franchise quarterback in second-year star Drake Maye, and you could argue it's better to have an experienced veteran as Maye's backup -- like Joshua Dobbs, whom New England signed in free agency -- than a Year 2 development project like Milton.
What was a bit surprising, however, was when the Patriots traded Milton. Why deal the raw yet talented quarterback on Thursday, just four days before the team began voluntary workouts on Monday? Why not wait until closer to the season to see if his stock rose even further with another impressive training camp and preseason?
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As our Patriots Insider Phil Perry explained Monday on Arbella Early Edition, the timing of the Milton trade tells you all you need to know about what motivated it.
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"I think based on what we know, it's more along the lines of, 'What kinds of people do you want in your locker room? What kinds of people do you want in your quarterback room?'" Perry said, as seen in the video player above.
"Because it doesn't have to be an either/or. You could have another young player in the room -- and it wouldn't surprise me if they drafted somebody else on Day 3 this year to add another potentially talented quarterback to that quarterback room and still keep Josh Dobbs.
"Josh Dobbs and Joe Milton weren't necessarily fighting for a roster spot. Maybe at the end of training camp we would be saying that, but you could keep both. So to frame it as, 'Well, it's better to have the mentor than the younger player,' that might be true -- and I think it is true -- but you don't have to cut the other guy before the offseason program even starts.
"So to me, the smoking gun is the timing of this, and the swiftness and just the firmness of the decision, which is, 'We're just not gonna deal with people walking around talking about themselves like they should be the starting quarterback when we have a young player that we believe in.' That, to me, is really more the issue."
🔊 Patriots Talk Podcast: What we gleaned from Patriots' trade of Joe Milton III, McDaniels presser | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
You could argue that having a backup who believes he should be the starter is a good thing for Maye that will help push him to be a better player. You could also argue that trading that backup is showing preferential treatment to Maye and setting the wrong precedent.
But as Vrabel stated in his introductory press conference, his goal is to remove "entitlement" from this football team, and if Milton felt "entitled" to a larger role, that wasn't going to fly in Vrabel's program.
"From what we understood, it was more about Milton's comfort level and self-perception relative to Maye," Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran added.
"He felt that as an older player than Drake Maye (Milton is 25; Maye is 22), he didn't think that the disparity was that great between the two individuals. And he felt because of the final game of the season (against the Bills), it seems, that, 'Hey man, maybe I should be getting a crack here.'"
Could the Patriots have gotten more for Milton than a late fifth-round pick from the Dallas Cowboys had they waited to deal him? Potentially. But as Perry and Curran pointed out, this was more about Vrabel making a statement that entitlement won't be tolerated under his watch.
Check out more of their discussion below: