Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Joe Milton is now playing for the enemy, the Philadelphia Eagles, but he can still help out his former team this week.

Milton was signed by the Eagles off the Cowboys' practice squad last month amid the team having an injury concern with starter Jalen Hurts, who is now out for the rest of the season.

The Tennessee product started out as the team's backup to Tanner McKee, but that has now changed and it will be Milton starting for the Eagles in Week 9, the team announced.

A former sixth-round pick in 2024, Milton has never started a regular season game in his young career, so this is a massive opportunity for him.

How Joe Milton can help Cowboys

Not only is Milton making his first start, he's doing so against the New York Giants, the Eagles' Week 9 opponent.

The Giants are sitting in first place in the NFC East with a 4-2-1 record and the Cowboys arebehind them in second place at 3-5.

Dallas lost ground on the Giants last week after their abysmal loss to the Arizona Cardinals while New York was on a bye. Making the gap between New York and Dallas even bigger is the fact that the Cowboys lost to the Giants back in Week 1.

So, the Cowboys are going to be rooting for their ex- teammate, and not just because they want to see him do well. Milton can help the Cowboys gain ground on the Giants if he can lead the Eagles to a win and Dallas can take care of business against the lowly Indianapolis Colts, a team the Cowboys should beat.

No guarantees

That said, the Eagles are about as lowly as the Colts are right now, and they are banged-up.

Wide receivers DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks haven't practiced over the first two days of this week and that puts the duo on track to sit out. If they don't play, Milton's job becomes much more difficult.

Along with tight end Dallas Goedert, Milton would be forced to rely on lackluster wideouts like Hollywood Brown, Darius Cooper and rookie Makai Lemon, which doesn't inspire much confidence for his chances of beating the Giants.

The Cowboys also have to hold up their end of the bargain and we know they are anything but certain to do that after already losing games to teams they were expected to beat, like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cardinals, for example.

We expect the Cowboys to beat the Colts this week, but we cannot say the same for the Eagles with the Giants.

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