Quinn Ewers Prospect Evaluation

Quinn Ewers is a 2025 draft-eligible Quarterback prospect from the University of Texas.

Ewers began his collegiate career as one of the highest rated Quarterback recruits in recent history, committing to the Ohio State Buckeyes as a senior in high school. To the surprise of many, Ewers would never take a meaningful snap in Columbus before transferring to Texas after his uneventful freshman season. His choice of transfer school in the portal did not come as a surprise however, as Ewers was originally committed to the Longhorns before flipping his choice to the Buckeyes. Upon arriving on campus in Austin, Ewers was viewed as the immediate full-time starter and made true on this perception by becoming Head Coach Steve Sarkisian’s starter for the next three seasons. His time at the school is quite polarizing when trying to grasp a consensus on the signal-caller as an NFL draft prospect. He statistically improved from his first year as a starter, but ultimately seemed to regress in the areas of concern during the 2024 season despite achieving statistical success once again as well as a College Football Playoff berth.

Due to these perceived weaknesses, his draft stock has taken a fairly large hit amongst league circles and draft analysts. At one point in time, he was receiving first round consideration, although possibly due to a lack of options at the time. I chose Ewers for my first fully written prospect evaluation in 2025 due to him having a middle-of-the-road grade from many draft-focused outlets. He isn’t seen to be good enough to break into the first round of the draft but is also deemed as talented enough to not fall into the later rounds of day 3. I wanted to see if the public perception of him as a player was warranted or if there were external factors pushing and pulling his stock every which way in 2024.

Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, let’s talk about what I watched during my evaluation process. This report is based primarily on the two full games of all-22 that I watched while writing my breakdown. These two games were the Michigan game in early 2024 and the CFP game against Clemson from later in the same season. To strengthen my sample, I also quickly ran through some extra games of all-22 from 2023 and 2024. Here are my thoughts on Quinn Ewers:

The Positives

• Despite his smaller frame, Ewers does play with an admirable toughness. He would often play through smaller injuries and work his way back onto the field despite an obvious ailment still lingering. This would sometimes prove to be detrimental to the on-field success, but an intangible this apparent cannot be overlooked. Even with a highly-talented backup in Arch Manning, it is clear that Sarkisian trusted Ewers to run his offense as they would always go back to him once he was ready to get back onto the field.
• He has active feet which can help him with navigating the pocket and getting into open space to make a play. I did really think highly of his pocket-movement skills and overall footwork when unpressured.
• I like his movement skills and general mobility. When a play breaks down, he has the ability to create with his legs whether it be tucking and running or delivering while on the move. I thought that he showed plus improvisational ability when the play allows for it.
• He made multiple “wow!” throws while on the move. I think he has a knack for getting a very playable ball to the pass catcher under these circumstances. You will see him square his shoulders and throw with solid upper-body mechanics while moving. His ability to do so allows for a lot of solid completions off of a designed rollout or boot.
• Overall, I thought that he showed strong and solid mechanics from top to bottom. His delivery and stance was replicated well. He will alternate between a more standard vertical release on longer-developing throws and a quicker, sidearm release on more short and intermediate attempts.
• His sidearm delivery can often produce quick throws through a collapsing pocket that will have me asking, “how did he get that ball out?”
• When he is on schedule in the short passing game, the ball gets out very quickly and decisively. This positive particularly shines on comeback routes or when a receiver sits down against zone coverage. He does a good job at giving his receiver inside or outside leverage when necessary on these plays.
• Although not a strength of Ewers, he did impress me with a good number of his throws down the field, particularly in the redzone. There were multiple passes to the back of the endzone that were left in a place where only the receiver could have made a play.

The Negatives

• Despite his toughness that I highlighted above, his smaller frame combined with a history of injury should raise concerns regarding his ability to be an NFL starting Quarterback.
• A good portion of the offense at Texas is based on pre-determined reads and operating on a tight schedule. If that schedule gets disrupted post-snap, it can get very ugly. Ewers was primarily a “one-read and throw” QB at Texas and while that may have been due to offensive scheme design, it does not lend itself well to playing the position at the highest level. It would be one thing entirely if Ewers was better at working off of that primary read if the play is not there, but there are a whole slew of issues caused by the fact that it does not seem as though he CAN do that. An average viewer of his all-22 would be able to tell that he has trouble with staring down his primary read because his eyes do not scan the field quickly and defenders will often be in better positions than you would want due to this predictability.
• As mentioned, once you are able to properly diagnose the previous issue, a larger number of problems rear their ugly heads. Ewers will get caught throwing a scheduled pass that was never properly developed post snap, which puts the ball in harms way. He will pigeon hole himself on these plays and force a throw that in theory should be safe but clearly is not. He was almost picked off multiple times in the games that I had watched because he will not let a dead play die.
• If the primary read is taken away immediately, you will see Ewers panic and run into pressure or disadvantageous situations because his ability to assess the play post-snap is subpar at best. You will not see him using his eyes to manipulate defenders in coverage on deeper-developing plays because where he is looking once the ball is snapped is often where the ball will go. In the instance where he does work down off of a primary read, he is often at least a tick slow and will leave the ball in a difficult spot for his second option that he is throwing to.
• Overall, I think that much of his decision outside of the short and intermediate passing that he is comfortable with leaves much to be desired. I think that he takes too long to throw his deep balls even if they are the primary read. The ball will often times get to a spot that would have been great if thrown on time but because he is often late, the defender in the area will have enough time to position themselves to make a play on the ball. When Sarkisian gives Ewers the keys on a play post-snap, I wanted to see more and just didn’t.
• Another large and negative sticking point with Ewers that I couldn’t shake while watching him was that he does not throw with much velocity or zip regardless of the situation. You’ll see a good number of shorter passes that have the proper velocity which might make you think that this criticism is overblown, but then you will see another short pass that is completely and unnecessarily lofted for no apparent reason. By all means, Ewers seems to have good arm talent and I wouldn’t categorize his arm strength as a negative. That raises the question as to why so many of his passes look the way that they do. He will often struggle with ball placement at every level of the field because of the lack of gas on his passes. A short pass will be catchable but also might be higher than you’d like. A lot of his deep balls are feathery and lofted but wont complete their arc in the spot that you would want them too. They will often land well in front of the desired spot.
• This also might play into some of his struggles with ball placement on in-breaking routes. He will often put a ball on the receiver’s chest or behind them entirely because he isn’t zipping them in stride.
• I think that as a play-by-play passer, his reliance on a pre-set play schedule will often times negatively impact his ability to properly hit a receiver in stride. It feels as though he is throwing what SHOULD be there rather than what actually IS there.
• I would be remiss if I did not say that while his ability to move in the pocket is an overall positive, Ewers will often show himself to be oblivious of pressure coming off the edge. He will sometimes be able to escape from this even if he is late to notice, but often times it will be too late and will result in a sack, panicked throw, or an unnecessary QB hit.

Overall Thoughts/Evaluation

I think that I wanted to like Ewers as a prospect more than what I actually came away with. He has a lot of positive traits that are conducive to a positive evaluation as a QB prospect. However, the negative aspects of his play left me with a disappointing impression. The reliance on a pre-determined schedule might be successful in an insulated and well-equipped collegiate offensive system, but that will not translate on a 1:1 basis in the NFL because it never has before. Ewers is talented, but he is not talented enough to be the first QB to succeed by playing how Ewers did in college. He will have to adapt and majorly improve as a post-snap player before I would feel confident in giving him meaningful NFL snaps. There is definitively something interesting to work with regarding Ewers as a development draft prospect and some teams will undoubtedly be ready and willing to bring him in to work on his deficiencies in the off-chance that he becomes an NFL caliber starting Quarterback. However, because his main issues are relatively harder to teach and correct than let’s say a mechanical hiccup, I don’t think that a team should be willing to invest early draft capital to give themselves the opportunity to refine his game. While I was hoping to see Ewers put himself above the middle tiers of QB draft prospects, ultimately he did not.

Draft Grade: 60/100
Draft Value: Early to Mid Day 3