The Miami Dolphins add a 3rd quarterback to their QB room by selecting Quinn Ewers out of Texas in Round 7. Ewers is a polarizing player in that many thought heading into the 2024 season he would be a 1st round pick. In 2023, he was fantastic; in 2024, he struggled at times.

Ewers is a great deep ball thrower, but struggles with the short passing game. In Miami he will compete for the backup QB job with Zach Wilson and be the 3rd quarterback on Miami’s roster.

NFL.com Draft Profile

Overview

Ewers’ arm talent and game flashes are enticing, but he hasn’t learned to play the game with a high enough level of consistency. The tape of road wins over Alabama and Michigan over the last two seasons showed the clearest picture of Ewers’ ceiling. He spins it with a sudden release and good touch over the first two levels and makes it look easy when he finds a rhythm. He won a high percentage of his career starts but struggled to put points on the board in most big games in 2024. Ewers rarely operates as a smooth, full-field reader. He often predetermines his target and throws into coverage instead of taking what the defense is offering. A lack of escapability will require him to process quickly enough to stay ahead of NFL blitz packages. The raw talent and upside will be alluring for pro-style passing attacks, but it’s fair to wonder if he will ever be able to rise above the talent on his roster and the ability of his play-caller to create favorable terms.

Strengths

  • Displays willingness to go out and compete through pain.
  • Performances in road games at Alabama (2023) and Michigan (2024) stand out.
  • Makes it look easy when he’s working in rhythm.
  • Arm talent to make trick-shot throws from a variety of angles.
  • Gets the ball out in a hurry with just the flick of his wrist.
  • Showed good pocket mobility to slide and deliver in 2023.
  • Has games where footwork is clean and delivery is sharp.
  • Capable of making touch throws from off-platform.
  • Throws with consistent accuracy on boot-action rollouts.

Weaknesses

  • Can be fooled from pre-snap to post-snap looks by defense.
  • Needs better eye manipulation to hold safeties and linebackers.
  • Gets stuck on first read, regardless of coverage.
  • Stares at primary receivers and will throw them into collisions.
  • Lazy footwork forces receivers to break stride to make the catch.
  • Will throw late and put too much air under some downfield throws.
  • Must improve his feel and response to edge pressure.

The 33rd Team

Height: 6020 (unofficial)

Weight: 210lbs (unofficial)

Year: Redshirt Junior

Pro Comparison: Will Grier

Scouting Overview

Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers should be regarded as a developmental quarterback prospect. He boasts noted throwing ability and a live arm, allowing him to make aggressive plays to the far side of the field or down the field.

However, Ewers’ aggressiveness can get the best of him at times, and he lacks discipline and risk mitigation. Accordingly, he’s too erratic to be trusted as an early starter and will need to be molded into a more deliberate player at the position. Ewers is at his best with play-action ball fakes, RPO ball handling, and quick decisions with the football, but durability, ball security, and pocket presence all threaten his future pathways to playing time.

2025 NFL Combine Results

TBD

Positives

  • Slick ball handling ability yields impactful ball fakes, play-action, and RPO influence
  • Possesses a variety of arm slots and release angles to help create throwing windows in muddy pockets
  • Natural throwing ability is evident with the ability to drive the ball & do so from unorthodox platforms

Negatives

  • Pressure mitigation is poor, and answers under duress too often illustrate haphazard ball security
  • Field vision and decision-making on traditional progression reads appear to hold major blind spots
  • Durability issues have lingered across each of his three seasons as a starter at Texas, plus his final season at the HS level

Background

Ewers was born in San Antonio, TX, and played high school football for Carroll Senior HS in Southlake, TX. He was a standout baseball player, in addition to his role as a quarterback. Ewers was a highly regarded quarterback recruit who garnered a ton of interest — he was a 5-star player (247 Sports) and ranked as the No. 1 player in the country who partook in the Elite 11 before his college career started. Ewers initially committed to Texas before opening up his recruitment again and committing to play at Ohio State.

Ewers lasted one season at Ohio State, playing in just one contest and taking two snaps before entering the transfer portal at the end of that true freshman season. Ewers returned to Texas to play for the Longhorns and claimed the starting job entering his redshirt freshman season in 2022.

Ewers started 10 games that season, missing three starts with a right collarbone injury against Alabama. In 2023, Ewers started 12 games, missing two with an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. In 2024, Ewers started 13 games but missed two and a half games of action with an oblique strain against UTSA. Ewers also missed 6 games with an abdomen injury in 2020 at Southlake Carroll.

Tale Of The Tape

Ewers has been on the NFL Draft radar for quite some time, thanks to his lofty status as a prized 5-star recruit coming out of high school. You see plenty of glimpses of the talent that had him so coveted as a player. He has apparent arm talent and can be a catalyst of big plays.

However, the sustainability of his play is very much the question that teams have to reconcile. Ewers has played with one of the best play callers in college football for the past three seasons, had an offensive line loaded with NFL caliber talent, and a slew of NFL skill players at his disposal between Bijan Robinson, Jordan Whittington, Ja’Tavion Sanders, Jaydon Blue, Jonathon Brooks, Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Gunnar Helm, Matthew Golden, Isaiah Bond, and more at his disposal.

Such a cast leading to a heavily focused schemed throw offense as frequently as Texas had with Ewers at the helm, particularly when contrasted to their more aggressive and downfield passing attack when Arch Manning was called upon, begs some questions.

The full-field progression resume for Ewers highlights some poor feel for deep safety rotation and coverage presence, both when feeling high-low leverage and spacing across the deeper portions of the field. Ewers cuts loose a number of throws that lack the proper velocity and trajectory relative to the defender’s relationship to his target — exposing his pass catchers to violent collisions over the middle or exposed shots as they adjust to the football at the catch point. These instances are far too often and are compounded when he’s forced into long & late situations.

Ewers’ consistency with pressure is troublesome, and the root theme of the issues involved is his trust in his arm. In the Georgia game alone, Ewers twice threw comebacks against man coverage from a muddy pocket and trusted his arm to drive the throw on target. Both throws missed inside and lacked the zip that would have safely delivered the throw outside the numbers and were picked off.

While Ewers’ arm talent is evident in his ability to drop his arm slot and throw around a free runner or creatively shovel a pass out while on the move, the accuracy spray becomes too vast in hurried situations.

Further complicating his success within the pocket is the sense of pressure. He often climbs into pressure, and his vision will narrow when his eyes drop, and he’s forced to navigate the rush. If he catches zone coverage and defenders latch onto him moving off his spot, he has shown the ability to push the ball over the middle of the field and find big completions — as he did for a touchdown against Michigan. But his feel of compromised edges or escape hatches too often yields frustrating added sacks taken while running into pressure.

Yet, Ewers illustrates a number of traits that make him hard to sell completely. He shows good rotational velocity as a passer and gets good RPM on the football with a casual release. His throwing delivery is snappy, and he can whip the ball out to drive throws from a firm foundation.

The big moments have yielded some big successes for him, too. Ewers has found plays to be made in and out of structure in a number of big spots — most recently against Arizona State in the second round of the 2024 College Football Playoff. He’s made huge plays in games against teams like Alabama on the road.

Ewers shows good short-area quickness and agility within the pocket, too. If he’s got a free runner off his side, he can slide late and buy some extra time. The escapability of the first rusher is a likable bonus to his game.

While the Texas offense put a number of barriers around Ewers, he actually does execute the primary functions of their offensive design quite well. He’s a crafty ball handler and does well with his ball fakes to extend and show the football to defenders before collecting and resetting to throw.

He’s quick with his hands to flash fake and does well with RPOs to ride the mesh point and quickly pull and zip the throw out to the perimeter on run plays with a tagged route or on authentic RPO passes. These reps, plus quick game and screen passes, are mainly where the Texas offense lived in 2024.

Teams will have to reconcile the medical background here. He’s had several abdomen and right shoulder injuries in the past five years that have cost him playing time in every season he’s been a starter. That, plus his warts with hasty decision-making, casual mechanics that yield inconsistent accuracy, and ball security, will need to be resolved before he’s considered anything but a developmental talent.

Ideal Scheme Fit, Role

Ewers projects best into a West Coast offense. Yes, he has the arm strength to attack the field, but his production and efficiency dip notably as he’s asked to hold the ball longer in the pocket.

Taking advantage of his ball-handling skills and ability to get outside the pocket offers the most desirable structure to keep his decisions “on schedule” as a quarterback. That said, this is a developmental talent whose decision-making as a whole is not ready for NFL snaps.

Bleacher Report

HEIGHT: 6’2″

WEIGHT: 214

HAND: 9⅜”

ARM: 30¾”

WINGSPAN: 75″

POSITIVES

— Arm angles to make throws around defenders collapsing the pocket.

— Off-platform throws, confident making throws on the move when forced out of the pocket.

— Functional mobility to break contain and extend plays when flushed by the pass rush.

— Effective point-guard style QB who can efficiently operate a well-designed offense.

NEGATIVES

— Overall arm talent is adequate; does not display velocity or zip on drive throws further down the field.

— Patience and presence in the pocket, tends to bail clean pockets.

— Lower body mechanics lack consistency and do not step into throws, leading to passes losing steam.

— Dip in play when defensive pressure is felt, forces throws in risky situations for potential turnovers.

 

NOTES

— Born March 15, 2003

— 5-Star recruit in 2021 class, per 247Sports

— 2024 Second Team All-SEC; Maxwell Award semifinalist; Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Top-10 Finalist; Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award semifinalist

— 2023 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; Davey O’Brien Award Award semifinalist

OVERALL

Quinn Ewers flashes the potential to be a high-end quarterback but lacks consistency.

When kept clean in the pocket and in a groove, Ewers can deliver the football with timing and accuracy like a point guard on the hardwood. He throws with good pacing for catchable passes. Ewers can live in the short and intermediate areas of the field. His arm angles provide an outlet to throw around defenders pushing the pocket in his lap.

 

Again, when “locked in,” Ewers throws with great anticipation, with the ball meeting the receiver quickly out of their breaks. At his best, he is working on time and on schedule to execute the offense as designed. Ewers has functional mobility in a straight line to break contain and get valuable yardage with his legs. He can get 10-plus yards if the coast is clear on the perimeter and keep the chains moving. Ewers displays confidence in delivering passes on the move and slightly off-platform.

 

As a passer, Ewers thrives attacking the portion of the field that NFL QBs find success. He throws between the hashes and in the middle of the field with confidence and tough, layering passes over defenders’ heads. His ball placement should be appreciated; Ewers hits crossing receivers in stride for opportunities at yards after the catch.

 

Pushing the football down the field and outside the number has not been kind to Ewers this season. His passes are losing steam the further he attempts to down the field. His arm is functional and efficient but not great by any means. Ewers’ lower body mechanics tend to be erratic and inconsistent. He does not step into throws and will attempt passes from a flat-footed base in the pocket. As a result, Ewers’s throws lose steam, far hash to sideline throws are not his strength. Those passes sail and float in the air—against NFL athletes at the cornerback position; the results can be turnovers. Ewers’s pocket presence is hectic; he does not display patience in the pocket to consistently navigate it. He tends to bail clean pockets when the pressure has not broken through.

 

Overall, Quinn Ewers is a talented, point guard-style quarterback prospect. He possesses starting-caliber talent but lacks consistency or the killer instinct to put opponents away when the opportunity presents itself. Ewers can benefit from learning behind an established veteran before being given the chance to take the reigns of an NFL franchise.