RENTON, Wash. (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks selected Jalen Milroe in the third round of Friday’s NFL draft.
The 6-foot-2, 217-pound quarterback started two seasons at Alabama, racking up 45 passing touchdowns and another 33 on the ground over his collegiate career.
“He’s an incredible athlete,” general manager John Schneider said. “Very, very fast. I think literally it’s 21.2 (mph) or something like that, his GPS speed.”
The dual-threat QB completed 64% of his passes in college, but there are some questions about whether Milroe’s throwing abilities will adequately translate to the next level. Coach Mike MacDonald said the Seahawks won’t exactly be patient with Milroe, but acknowledged that offseason signee Sam Darnold is still the projected starter under center.
“Sam’s going to take by far and away over 90% of our snaps this year,” MacDonald said. “However, Jalen deserves and earns the right to go out there, then we’ll do that. If it’s going to help the team, it’s best for us to move the ball, give these defensive coordinators some headaches, which I’m really happy it’s not going to be us.”
There is certainly nothing to quibble about when it comes to Milroe’s athleticism, as he rushed for 726 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2024. He is also a proven winner, having gone 21-6 at Alabama while never losing consecutive games.
Milroe is adamant he’s now in the right spot in joining the reigning NFC West champions. He’s eager to learn from Darnold.
“The best thing for any rookie quarterback is to have a veteran in the room,” Milroe said. “So, that’s awesome, just to have that going into this quarterback room and also just all the knowledge that’s behind us. So, I’m just so super excited for just the new journey, new chapter of my life to be in Seattle.”
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FILE - Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe looks to throw against Missouri during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt, File)
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe poses on the carpet before the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
