Life comes at you fast. As cliche as that sounds, Quinn Ewers epitomizes it to a T. This time 4 years ago, Ewers had the world at his feet. He was just about to enroll at bluebloods Ohio State as the no.1 recruit in the nation. If you were around for his ascension through high school, you’d know he was damn near a 6-star recruit. 4 years on, his next ascension from the collegiate level to the pros is proving much more turbulent. A lot happened in that time- some good, but mostly bad. As Ewers now struggles to make inroads into the NFL hivemind, one former head coach thinks he never will.
To borrow a Charles Barkley analogy, there are bus riders and bus drivers. Trucks and trailers, if you will. To play at the NFL level, you’ve got to be a force multiplier. Someone who accentuates the supporting cast around them to do better. Unfortunately, Quinn Ewers hasn’t quite displayed an ability to do so. In his 3 years as QB1 for the Texas Longhorns, Ewers had the pieces around him to go nuclear. The NASA base is in nearby Houston, but UT-Austin really had the rocket ship ready for takeoff and go to the moon. Alas, Ewers couldn’t supply the fuel. In fact, some of a burnt orange persuasion will tell you he even weighed them down. This perceived failure to break through as “the guy” rather than merely “a guy” is baked into Jay Gruden’s verdict on what the future holds for Ewers. Fair warning- it’s pretty bleak.
Dissecting Quinn Ewers’ tape and overall game on the Clean Pocket YouTube channel alongside co-host and ex-pro Colt McCoy, Jay Gruden- younger brother of Jon- laid forth a very blunt indictment. “If I’m drafting Quinn Ewers, I’m drafting him to be a backup type guy,” said Gruden. “That’s not too bad. Surely he just means a backup initially as Ewers gets up to speed and is ready to be a starter? “He could be a lifelong backup. There is nothing wrong with that.” proceeded Gruden. Welp, that’s not too great. Quinn Ewers has probably heard worse. But coming from a former NFL HC and offensive coordinator, this reverberates rather loudly. Jay Gruden proceeded to elaborate on the “nothing wrong with that” bit, using a player chasing GOAT status as an example.
Gruden floated the idea of somebody like the Chiefs drafting Quinn Ewers as a Day 3 pick. “Be [Patrick Mahomes’] backup for the next ten years…[The Chiefs can] have that security blank of, if something happens with Patrick, we’ve got a guy that knows exactly what to do, what to call, who to go to,” he said. The implication here is that Gruden doesn’t think Ewers is a bad player. He just doesn’t believe him to be a starting-calibre QB. Perhaps a slight bump in the perception around Ewers can elevate him from a career backup to a backup with starting potential if the situation and environment are conducive to his development. Well, there is a team that ticks those boxes and provides rather perfect circumstances. Fortunately for Ewers, they’re seemingly interested in him as well.
If Quinn Ewers had to cherry pick one of the 32 NFL teams, he probably picks the Rams. Sit behind the veteran Matthew Stafford for a year or two and be a sponge in the QB room. Then take over the reigns if you proved your mettle. Oh, and do this while coached by arguably the best offensive mind in the game in Sean McVay. Great south Cali weather too. As a sweetener, you play in a Dome. Which is always great for a quarterback.
CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson has the Rams picking Ewers 101st overall in his latest mock draft. There’s no smoke without fire. It does make sense for the Rams to have a succession plan in place for Stafford and draft a QB. If indeed that’s Ewers, it really could be great for him. You’d have thought his future become more conspicuous after Pro Day. But Ewers had quite the mixed bag, leaving Austin with more questions than answers once again. This time, more literally too.
Texas’ Pro Day was a quite an eventful affair for Quinn Ewers
In terms of his throwing exhibition, Quinn Ewers had a positive showing at Texas’ Pro Day. From the sporadic clips doing the rounds on social media, he was slinging the pigskin pretty well. Conceded, these Pro Day workouts are scripted so it’s difficult to take much away. But his poise and demeanor in front of a full house of front office personnel and evaluators bodes well. Ewers even made a bold statement to clear the muddled discourse around him. “I think I’m the best [in the class] and the most ready for the NFL because of what I’ve been through,” he recently said to the media. Ironically, him not saying anything at all to the media on Pro Day became a controversy in itself.
Quinn Ewers finished his workout and jumped straight into a meeting with the Miami Dolphins. This meant he never spoke to the hoards of media personnel that had gathered to get his thoughts in the direct aftermath of Pro Day. This wasn’t an obligation. However, his no-show rubbed a prominent Texas-centric reporter the wrong way. “So Ewers went out the same way that he always treated the media — with barely a modicum of respect for us trying to do our job and without taking accountability for some poor throws that hurt his draft stock today.” wrote SB Nation’s Wescott Eberts on X. This post gained a lot of traction online and spawned hate towards Ewers. Eberts did issue an apology when he learned the reason was that meeting with the Dolphins. “That is my bad. Need to do better.” he later posted. However, the damage was done.
There’s a whirlwind around Quinn Ewers right now. For someone who’s slated to be a late rounder and an afterthought in the grand context of the draft, he’s still a prevalent name in the discourse. Guess it comes with the territory of being the Longhorns’ QB1. There’s very little outside the realm of possibility when it comes to Ewers right now. He’d just hope to land with a franchise where he’s given a fair shot. You can live with being a backup, but being resided to it from the jump is a tough pill to swallow.
The post Quinn Ewers’ NFL Fate All But Confirmed as Pro Day Antics Overshadow Texas QB’s Strong Message Amid Rams Rumors appeared first on EssentiallySports.