The Seattle Seahawks are about to find out a lot about Jalen Milroe. They may also be giving the second-year quarterback his best chance to change a rapidly deteriorating conversation around his future.
Head coach Mike Macdonald announced Thursday that Milroe will start Friday’s preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs and, barring an emergency, play the entire game. Drew Lock will be available, but the night belongs to Milroe.
For a preseason game that won’t count in the standings, the stakes are unusually real.
Milroe has gone from one of Seattle’s most intriguing developmental players to one of its biggest questions in a matter of weeks. Through two preseason games, he’s completed 11 of 19 passes for just 88 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s been sacked five times. Most damningly, the Seahawks have failed to score on all nine possessions Milroe has quarterbacked.
Now he gets four quarters to change the story.
Jalen Milroe Gets Something He Hasn’t Had: Time
Macdonald presented the decision as an opportunity rather than an ultimatum.
“I think it’s really great that he has an opportunity,” Macdonald said, explaining that Milroe can go through the full process of starting, finding a rhythm and managing a game.
That distinction matters.
Milroe has spent much of the preseason rotating behind Lock, creating short evaluation windows for a quarterback whose biggest problems have involved hesitation, processing and getting comfortable within the offense.
Against Kansas City, there will be no such excuse.
He’ll get the opening drive. He’ll get another possession after a mistake. He’ll get halftime adjustments. He’ll get two-minute situations and third downs. And, perhaps most importantly, Seattle’s coaches will get a much larger sample from which to judge whether the tantalizing physical ability that made Milroe the No. 92 pick of the 2025 NFL draft is becoming functional NFL quarterback play.
That makes Friday something considerably more significant than another preseason appearance.
It’s an audition.
Seahawks’ Patience With Milroe Is Being Tested
Calling Milroe a certain roster casualty would go too far.
He remains only 24, is under an inexpensive rookie contract and still possesses the elite running ability that made him such an intriguing developmental bet. One current Field Gulls roster projection still has Seattle carrying Sam Darnold, Lock and Milroe on the 53.
But the fact that the question is being asked at all represents a dramatic change.
Milroe entered camp with an opportunity to push Lock for the No. 2 job. Instead, after a difficult performance against Tennessee that included two interceptions, Field Gulls devoted its Seahawks fan survey to a much different question: Will Milroe even make the 53-man roster?
That’s how quickly the pressure has escalated.
There is also a practical roster issue. Carrying a developmental QB3 costs Seattle a spot it could use at receiver, defensive back or another position affected by injuries. Milroe’s upside made that investment easy to defend when Seattle drafted him. Eventually, however, upside has to be accompanied by progress.
Friday provides an unusually clean test.
Milroe Has Been Here Before — With Mixed Results
There is an uncomfortable parallel to last year.
Seattle also gave Milroe the entire 2025 preseason finale against Green Bay. He threw for 148 yards and a touchdown and ran for 31 more, but he was sacked five times and lost three fumbles.
A year later, Macdonald is effectively giving him the experiment again.
Only now the expectations are different.
Milroe is no longer a rookie being judged primarily on flashes. He’s a second-year quarterback the Seahawks need to see moving forward.
One strong preseason game won’t prove he’s Seattle’s quarterback of the future. One bad game shouldn’t automatically end a 24-year-old’s NFL career, either.
But Friday night could determine something almost as important: whether the Seahawks still see enough progress to keep investing time, coaching and a roster spot in finding out what Jalen Milroe can become.
For four quarters in Kansas City, the answer is his to give.
Jalen Milroe Faces Career-Defining Seahawks Test vs. Chiefs