Quinn Ewers didn’t do enough during the 2024 campaign to warrant being one of the first quarterbacks off the draft board. Still, it was a surprise when the Texas signal caller slid all the way to the seventh round, and he was ultimately the final QB taken when he was selected by the Dolphins at No. 231.
[RELATED: Dolphins Draft QB Quinn Ewers At No. 231]
There was some initial speculation about Ewers’ fall down the draft board. His lack of ball protection (12 interceptions, 10 fumbles in 2024) was assumed to be the main culprit, but there were also scouts who criticized his lack of mobility and struggles under pressure.
His agent has since provided another reason. Ron Slavin said he reached out to a number of teams to understand why Ewers fell all the way to the seventh round. Many of those teams acknowledged that they rated the Longhorns quarterback higher than a seventh-round pick, but they were wary of the attention he’d draw as a backup.
“They thought he was a third- or fourth-round pick, but too big of a name to be a clipboard holder,” Slavin told ESPN’s Todd Archer. “Which I think is chickens—.”
In a draft where Shedeur Sanders also fell due to concerns about any impending distractions, it’s not a surprise that some pundits are starting to point fingers at the “NIL era.” That includes Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com, who believes endorsements and the accompanying attention will make “it awkward” for players (especially QBs) to suddenly sit on the bench.
Ironically, Ewers landed in a spot that could eventually lead to some QB controversy. Tua Tagovailoa has had his fair share of concussion and injury issues, putting Miami’s backups into the spotlight. After shuffling through a handful of names last season, the Dolphins landed on Zach Wilson as their QB2 for the 2025 campaign. If Tagovailoa went down, Wilson would surely get the first shot at the starting gig, but his spotty track record could open the door for Ewers.
For what it’s worth, the rookie QB isn’t letting his unexpected draft slide impact his perspective. While he admitted that he was surprised to fall to the seventh round, he was still relieved to hear his name called during draft weekend.
“I just didn’t know what was going on,” Ewers said. “But, I mean, it was nice [to get drafted], because at one point I’m like, ‘I’m not even going to get drafted. I’m going to go undrafted.’
“It was very unexpected, and I think that the toughest part about it is just the amount of unexpected occurrences there were. But I’m glad that I ended up where I ended up. To go as late as I did, I’m glad it’s a good spot.”
Anchorman GIF: I don’t believe you.
I can explain his draft slide: He’s not very good, and with teams watching a huge amount of Texas tape because of all his draftable teammates last year and this year, they have a clear-eyed view of how good he isn’t. He’s got some talent and he may have been banged up much of the season, but failing to ever live up to your hype coming out of high school and then regressing your last year isn’t a great sell.
So basically scouts massively massively over rated him coming out of HS as he was a 5 star recruit and the top QB in his class. He plays 1 year at Ohio state and then transfers to Texas where his lack of talent was exposed
Ridiculous. Fact is he wasn’t good enough. He was drafted based on his high school ranking and nothing like else
The guy’s deep balls look like punts. He’s gonna bounce around a few practice squads, that’s it.
Agent knows he dropped the ball by advising sewers to declare and is trying to cover for his own error.
Sewers desperately needed another season in college to repair draft stock.
100%. That never made sense. Even if he were going to be drafted higher, he could have made more money chasing NIL.
He’s still in the league. backup for 7-10 years and then into coaching or broadcasting. He’ll be fine.
He hasn’t made the team yet
The league has code words for “just a guy”.
I hope Miami makes a mistake and cuts him. He’d look great in Rams horns!
Within 2 seconds of seeing him after he was drafted you can see why he slid…
His torso is the same diameter as his waist.
Won’t last even if he can play.
Yep that’s it you nailed it. Because that has nothing to do with nothing except in your mind.
Exactly.
They weigh and measure these players to the millimeter for no reason.
You nailed it.
Kinda like the fact that I was too good looking in high school – none of the cheerleaders would go out with me for fear of me taking attention away from them. I needed this agent to do my talking. How stupid.
Florio has absolutely the worst takes in the world when it comes to N.I.L., so I’d take anything he says about that with a heavy dose of salt. Actually, I’d take 90% of what he says with a grain of salt, but when he writes about N.I.L., I can never even finish reading the article because of how bad it is. And, for someone who complains incessantly about anonymous sources, he sure loves to cite them.
It’s like every article he writes is him begging for players to interview with him, to love him, but this is also a guy who runs an opinion site and turned off all the comments. As for Ewers…well, he’s not bad, but he certainly didn’t project star potential in his time at Texas. Decent arm, not great, not especially mobile, can make a play here and there. At least Ewers can rest easy knowing that Sanders is Florio’s current focus (while still nurturing his Aaron Rodgers obsession on the side), so he’ll have to write two articles a week on that…which should let Ewers fade into the background without being the “distraction” that his agent claims that he’ll be.
Spot on Ak185
@ak185. His agent dropped the ball, he was getting 5 million dollar deals to return to college. He needed to leave Texas because of manning but someone would’ve taken him. This was when he was floated to be a 2nd or 3rd round pick.
Fair conclusion, Rex. There’s really no reason these days for players to not stay and develop in college if their production or their skill set could use some development. I was still an advocate for it before-better skills and experience lead to longer careers or sometimes better draft positions-but with the money that they make now, an injury won’t deprive them of significant earnings (at least, for highly paid players like Ewers).
It doesn’t make sense. The coach is not going to care who holds the clipboard. My pure guess is that teams are starting to value their mid-round picks (3-4-5) more than they use to, and they don’t want to waste them on QB prospects.
All of these guys that slid way down the draft board just need to look at Brock Purdy for inspiration.,,he was the last guy drafted and has turned out just fine
I like Ewers because he left a sure thing at Baylor to chase his childhood dream of being the Longhorn starting QB but the fact is he really hasn’t been all that good. He’s a walking turnover and has a lot of work to do to improve as a pocket passer.
People hyped him up because of the NIL and what Texas did as a team but yeah no.
Ah got his story confused with someone else but not his ability. I’ve watched him enough.
When was he at Baylor? Out of high school he was at Ohio state then Texas
This kids mind was always on 2 things…money and himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if teams had him crossed off their boards because they thought the same thing. Don’t believe me? Go watch the interview he did with Gruden before the draft…
Ironically he wasted one last opportunity to cash in by declaring for the draft this year because he would’ve made a killing by transferring for more NIL. Now he’ll be a practice squad guy for years before he gets another chance at a pay day
Everyone knows Texas is a QB factory right? The Dolphins could sign Sam Ehlinger and have themselves an epic passer competition 🙂
Ewers will be this draft classes Purdy and end up the best QB in the class.
He’s obviously a lock for the HOF too. I’d be willing to start work on the bronze bust after receiving a generous down payment.