Hugh Millen
Encyclopedia
Hugh Breedlove Millen is a former professional American football
player who was selected by the Los Angeles Rams
in the third round of the 1986 NFL Draft
. A 6'5", 216-lb. quarterback
from the University of Washington
, Millen played mainly as a backup in 10 NFL seasons from 1986 to 1995 for the Rams, Atlanta Falcons
, New England Patriots
, New Orleans Saints
and Denver Broncos
.
Millen currently works as a football analyst
for KJR-AM
radio and KCPQ
television in Seattle, Washington
. He now lives with his family in Snoqualmie, Washington
. Additionally, he has helped Baden and Adidas develop a better football.
, throwing for 2,657 yards and winning the Orange Bowl in 1985 as a junior, in the infamous "Sooner Schooner
" game. This win would propel Washington to the #2 national ranking behind unbeaten Brigham Young University
. He attended Santa Rosa Junior College
out of Roosevelt High School
in Seattle before playing for the Huskies. Coming in as a walk-on, he beat out Chris Chandler
for the starting job. Chandler would later become the Huskies starting quarterback himself, before going on to a successful NFL career.
in the third round of the 1986 NFL Draft
, Millen missed his entire rookie season with the Rams in 1986 after fracturing an ankle and landing on injured reserve for the entire season. In 1987, Millen missed most of the season with a back injury and only had one pass attempt for the season. By this time, Jim Everett
– who the Rams had traded for with the Houston Oilers after being the #3 pick in the 1986 NFL Draft – had become entrenched as the Rams starter, and Millen would soon be heading out the door.
After being released by the Rams, Atlanta picked him up off waivers, and he ended up playing in three games for the Falcons in 1988, throwing for 215 yards on the year. The following season, he played in five games – with one start - and completed 62% of his passes for 432 yards. In 1990, he started two games for the Falcons – winning both – completing 54% of his throws for 427 yards.
on April 1, 1991, as a Plan B free agent. In the fourth week of 1991 season, Millen replaced Tommy Hodson
as the starting quarterback for the Patriots. Millen's record as the starter was 5-7, and the Patriots overall record for that year was 6-10; a vast improvement from their 1-15 record from a season ago.
For the season, Millen threw for 3,073 yards with 9 touchdown passes and 18 interceptions. It marked only the fifth time in team history that a quarterback had thrown for 3,000 yards in a season. Millen had several notable performances that season, starting off with his first start against the Houston Oilers
where he led New England to a 24-20 upset win by completing 22 of 33 passes for 244 yards and a 34-yard game-winning touchdown strike to Greg McMurtry
with 34 seconds left in the game. He had his first career 300-yard passing performance against Minnesota on October 22 – when he was 22 out of 32 for 326 yards and a touchdown pass.
He was named player of the game two consecutive weeks in November when he completed 20 out of 26 passes for 257 yards and a touchdown pass against Miami, then completed 30 passes for 372 yards and a touchdown throw the following week against the Jets. The next week, he scored his first touchdown rushing, with a one-yard sneak in a 16-13 win against Buffalo. Then on December 8 – he completed 21 of 40 passes for 330 yards for two touchdowns, including a 45 yard game winning strike to WR Michael Timpson
in overtime against Indianapolis.
During the 1992 season, Millen shared quarterback duties with three others; Tommy Hodson
, Scott Zolak
and Jeff Carlson. He led all Patriot quarterbacks with 1,203 passing yards and eight touchdown passes, but New England's final record was a miserable 2-14. Millen suffered a third degree separated shoulder on the seventh play of the season.
The Patriots 2-14 record led to a complete overhaul of the team and franchise in 1993. Millen was traded to Dallas and with the #1 overall pick in the 1993 Draft, New England selected Washington State QB Drew Bledsoe
.
champion Dallas Cowboys
in June 1993 as insurance for injured starter Troy Aikman
, who had just undergone surgery for a herniated disk. Steve Beuerlein
– the backup quarterback from the previous year – had signed with the Phoenix Cardinals
as a free agent. Aikman was expected to miss six to 12 weeks at the time, as he rehabbed from his surgery, while Millen and Jason Garrett
would fill the void in the meantime. Millen himself had separated his left shoulder three times during the previous season.
As it turned out, Millen never did attempt a pass in the regular season, as Aikman healed well from his injury, and eventually the Cowboys signed Bernie Kosar
as their third quarterback – along with Aikman and Garrett – after Kosar had been released by the Cleveland Browns
midway during the 1993 season.
Millen would play his final two years in the NFL as a backup to John Elway
in Denver during 1994 and 1995. He played in eight games for the Broncos, starting twice, and throwing for 1090 yards with three touchdown passes and a 63% completion percentage.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player who was selected by the Los Angeles Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
in the third round of the 1986 NFL Draft
1986 NFL Draft
The 1986 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1986...
. A 6'5", 216-lb. quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
from the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, Millen played mainly as a backup in 10 NFL seasons from 1986 to 1995 for the Rams, Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
, New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
and Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
Millen currently works as a football analyst
Color commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
for KJR-AM
KJR-AM
KJR is an all-sports radio station based in Seattle, Washington, owned by Clear Channel Communications. KJR currently is the flagship station of the University of Washington, including Husky football and men's basketball broadcasts...
radio and KCPQ
KCPQ
KCPQ, channel 13, is the Fox television affiliate licensed to Tacoma, Washington serving the Seattle/Tacoma television market, owned by the Tribune Company...
television in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. He now lives with his family in Snoqualmie, Washington
Snoqualmie, Washington
Snoqualmie is a city next to Snoqualmie Falls in King County, Washington. The city is home to the Northwest Railway Museum. The population was of 10,670 at the 2010 census...
. Additionally, he has helped Baden and Adidas develop a better football.
College career
Hugh Millen started 17 of the 20 games he appeared in for the Washington HuskiesWashington Huskies
Washington Huskies is the nickname of the University of Washington's athletic teams. The school is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. The athletic program is made up of 9 men's sports and 10 women's sports Washington Huskies is the nickname of the University of Washington's athletic teams. The...
, throwing for 2,657 yards and winning the Orange Bowl in 1985 as a junior, in the infamous "Sooner Schooner
Sooner Schooner
The Sooner Schooner is the official mascot of the sports teams of the University of Oklahoma Sooners. Pulled by two white ponies named Boomer and Sooner, it is a scaled-down replica of the Conestoga wagon used by settlers of the Oklahoma Territory around the time of the Land Run of 1889...
" game. This win would propel Washington to the #2 national ranking behind unbeaten Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
. He attended Santa Rosa Junior College
Santa Rosa Junior College
Santa Rosa Junior College is a community college located in the city of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California. Founded in 1918, it is the tenth oldest community college in the state. Santa Rosa Junior College was modeled as a "junior" version of nearby University of California at Berkeley...
out of Roosevelt High School
Roosevelt High School (Seattle)
Roosevelt High School is a public school in the Seattle Public Schools district of Seattle, Washington, USA. Founded in the 1920s, Roosevelt continues to be one of the largest schools in the greater Seattle area....
in Seattle before playing for the Huskies. Coming in as a walk-on, he beat out Chris Chandler
Chris Chandler
Christopher Mark Chandler is a retired American football player, who played as a quarterback in the National Football League for 17 seasons. He is known for leading the Atlanta Falcons to a 14-2 season in 1998, followed up with an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIII.-Early years:Chris Chandler was...
for the starting job. Chandler would later become the Huskies starting quarterback himself, before going on to a successful NFL career.
Early career
After being drafted by Los Angeles RamsSt. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
in the third round of the 1986 NFL Draft
1986 NFL Draft
The 1986 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1986...
, Millen missed his entire rookie season with the Rams in 1986 after fracturing an ankle and landing on injured reserve for the entire season. In 1987, Millen missed most of the season with a back injury and only had one pass attempt for the season. By this time, Jim Everett
Jim Everett
James Samuel Everett III is a retired professional American football quarterback who played for twelve seasons in the National Football League ....
– who the Rams had traded for with the Houston Oilers after being the #3 pick in the 1986 NFL Draft – had become entrenched as the Rams starter, and Millen would soon be heading out the door.
After being released by the Rams, Atlanta picked him up off waivers, and he ended up playing in three games for the Falcons in 1988, throwing for 215 yards on the year. The following season, he played in five games – with one start - and completed 62% of his passes for 432 yards. In 1990, he started two games for the Falcons – winning both – completing 54% of his throws for 427 yards.
New England
Millen signed with the New England PatriotsNew England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
on April 1, 1991, as a Plan B free agent. In the fourth week of 1991 season, Millen replaced Tommy Hodson
Tommy Hodson
Thomas Paul Hodson was an American football quarterback for the LSU Tigers and the National Football League.-Early life:...
as the starting quarterback for the Patriots. Millen's record as the starter was 5-7, and the Patriots overall record for that year was 6-10; a vast improvement from their 1-15 record from a season ago.
For the season, Millen threw for 3,073 yards with 9 touchdown passes and 18 interceptions. It marked only the fifth time in team history that a quarterback had thrown for 3,000 yards in a season. Millen had several notable performances that season, starting off with his first start against the Houston Oilers
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...
where he led New England to a 24-20 upset win by completing 22 of 33 passes for 244 yards and a 34-yard game-winning touchdown strike to Greg McMurtry
Greg McMurtry
Gregory Wendell McMurtry is a former professional American football wide receiver who played for the New England Patriots and the Chicago Bears of the National Football League in the early 1990s....
with 34 seconds left in the game. He had his first career 300-yard passing performance against Minnesota on October 22 – when he was 22 out of 32 for 326 yards and a touchdown pass.
He was named player of the game two consecutive weeks in November when he completed 20 out of 26 passes for 257 yards and a touchdown pass against Miami, then completed 30 passes for 372 yards and a touchdown throw the following week against the Jets. The next week, he scored his first touchdown rushing, with a one-yard sneak in a 16-13 win against Buffalo. Then on December 8 – he completed 21 of 40 passes for 330 yards for two touchdowns, including a 45 yard game winning strike to WR Michael Timpson
Michael Timpson
Michael Dwain Timpson is a former American football player and sprinter.-Early life:Timpson was a track star and multi-sport athlete at Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School in Hialeah, Florida from 1981 to 1985.-NFL:...
in overtime against Indianapolis.
During the 1992 season, Millen shared quarterback duties with three others; Tommy Hodson
Tommy Hodson
Thomas Paul Hodson was an American football quarterback for the LSU Tigers and the National Football League.-Early life:...
, Scott Zolak
Scott Zolak
Scott David Zolak is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for nine seasons...
and Jeff Carlson. He led all Patriot quarterbacks with 1,203 passing yards and eight touchdown passes, but New England's final record was a miserable 2-14. Millen suffered a third degree separated shoulder on the seventh play of the season.
The Patriots 2-14 record led to a complete overhaul of the team and franchise in 1993. Millen was traded to Dallas and with the #1 overall pick in the 1993 Draft, New England selected Washington State QB Drew Bledsoe
Drew Bledsoe
Drew McQueen Bledsoe is a former football quarterback in the National Football League, best known as the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots from 1993-2001. During the 1990s, he was considered the face of the Patriots franchise...
.
Later career
Millen was traded to the Super BowlSuper Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
champion Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
in June 1993 as insurance for injured starter Troy Aikman
Troy Aikman
Troy Kenneth Aikman is a former American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League. The number one overall draft pick in 1989, Aikman played twelve consecutive seasons as quarterback with the Cowboys...
, who had just undergone surgery for a herniated disk. Steve Beuerlein
Steve Beuerlein
Stephen Taylor "Steve" Beuerlein is a former football quarterback, and currently is an NFL and college football analyst for CBS.-Education:...
– the backup quarterback from the previous year – had signed with the Phoenix Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
as a free agent. Aikman was expected to miss six to 12 weeks at the time, as he rehabbed from his surgery, while Millen and Jason Garrett
Jason Garrett
Jason Calvin Garrett is an American former National Football League player and the current head coach of the Dallas Cowboys...
would fill the void in the meantime. Millen himself had separated his left shoulder three times during the previous season.
As it turned out, Millen never did attempt a pass in the regular season, as Aikman healed well from his injury, and eventually the Cowboys signed Bernie Kosar
Bernie Kosar
Bernard Joseph "Bernie" Kosar, Jr. is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League. Kosar played for the Cleveland Browns from 1985 to 1993 and then finished his career with the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins.-Early life and high school career:A Hungarian-American...
as their third quarterback – along with Aikman and Garrett – after Kosar had been released by the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
midway during the 1993 season.
Millen would play his final two years in the NFL as a backup to John Elway
John Elway
John Albert Elway, Jr. is a former American football quarterback and currently is the executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He played college football at Stanford and his entire professional career with the Denver Broncos...
in Denver during 1994 and 1995. He played in eight games for the Broncos, starting twice, and throwing for 1090 yards with three touchdown passes and a 63% completion percentage.