2025 NFL Draft Quarterback Scouting Report - Quinn Ewers, Texas
Hey all,
Back with the next installment of my 2025 NFL Draft Scouting Reports! Last week, I mentioned I was planning to cover Jalen Milroe but with Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers declaring for the draft, I couldn't resist completing his eval to see how he graded out. I'll actually be planning to cover Jalen Milroe next week so it hopefully shouldn't be too much longer of a wait! As usual, if you want to check out the YouTube video, for Ewers, you can check it out with the link below:
Quinn Ewers, Texas
Height: 6’2”; Weight: 210 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 22 years and 1 months
Class: RS Junior
Overall Grade: 2.39/4 (Needs Improvement to Contribute)
2024 Stats:
Passing: 353/477 (74%); 4134 yards; 37 TDs; 10 INTs
Rushing: 100 carries; -50 yards; 4 TDs; 4 Fumbles
2024 Games Charted: Michigan, Georgia (10/19/24), Georgia (12/7/24), Ohio State
Totals from Games Charted:
Short Throw Accuracy on Platform: 82/104 (78.85%)
Short Throw Accuracy off Platform: 36/50 (72%)
Medium Throw Accuracy on Platform: 45/68 (66.18%)
Medium Throw Accuracy off Platform: 10/14 (71.43%)
Intermediate Throw Accuracy on Platform: 20/40 (50%)
Intermediate Accuracy off Platform: 5/6 (83.33%)
Deep Throw Accuracy on Platform: 7/16 (43.75%)
Deep Throw Accuracy off Platform: 2/2 (100%)
Left Side of Field Accuracy: 70/96 (72.92%)
Middle of Field Accuracy: 40/58 (68.97%)
Right Side of Field Accuracy: 97/146 (66.44%)
Total Accuracy: 207/300 (69%)
On Platform, Way Off Target Throws (Vertical/Horizontal): 10/7 (2.5/1.75 per game)
Off Platform, Way Off Target Throws (Vertical/Horizontal): 1/1 (0.25/0.25 per game)
Sacks/Fumbles: 16/3 (4/0.75 per game)
Deflections/Pass Interference: 9/6 (2.25/1.5 per game)
Throwaways/INTs/Dropped INTs: 12/3/6 (3/0.75/1.5 per game)
Drops: 9 (2.25 per game)
Designed Runs/Scrambles: 0/1 (0/0.25 per game)
Success vs Blitz: 31/56 (55.36%)
Success vs Pressure: 47/100 (47%)
Footwork: D
Pocket Presence: D
“Playmaking”: C-
Short Throw Accuracy: B+
Medium Throw Accuracy: B
Intermediate Throw Accuracy: C+
Deep Throw Accuracy: C
Throw on the Run: A
Success Against Pressure/Blitz: B-
Arm Strength: A-
Release: B
Ball Security: C-
Top Starter Potential: C-
Strengths:
Diverse arm angles
Arm talent
Quick release
More willing to make throwaways
Accuracy on the move/off platform
Areas of Improvement:
Processing
Pocket presence
Consistency
Footwork
Accuracy
Comp: DeShone Kizer
As the grading makes it clear, I’m out on Quinn Ewers and have been out on him basically since the middle of this season. As always though, I do want to highlight his strengths before discussing my concerns. Starting with his arm talent. I’m not sure I would consider it elite but for a quarterback who primarily throws with his upper body, he consistently generates a lot of velocity and can drive the ball downfield. Also, his release is a bit funky with a three-quarters release but he can throw the ball at almost any angle he wants. There also isn’t a lot of dip to the release despite the awkward path and it is still fast thanks to his arm strength. Mechanically, he is still a big work in progress but he at least seemed to get less toesy and bouncy in the pocket. He also did a better job of being more willing to take throwaways to try to reduce his sack rate a bit. When he was either making a throwaway or had pressure in his face, he showed toughness and never shied away from making a throw through a hit. Also, for whatever it’s worth to each evaluator, he is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in this class from a number of starts and big games perspective. That experience along with having good baseline physical traits gives some hope of an NFL starter in the future. Plus, we’ve played this game before but if you want to look for a glimmer of hope, Ewers’ game against Michigan was one of the most complete games he had in his career. He was the best he ever was out of structure and was very successful against blitzes and pressure in that game. It was also one of the most accurate games of his career and a big reason for that was due to the offense getting him on the move on rollouts to keep his feet moving. In a way, Ewers’ lack of experience using his lower body kind of made him better at throwing off platform as he is at his best on rollouts. That is consistent with his Michigan performance as he had some of his best throws of the season in that game and looked like a serious NFL prospect. It will be harder to scheme an offense this way in the NFL, but I think if he were to be thrust into early playing time, a team would be wise to use a lot of play action rollouts to help him out.
Unfortunately, it’s really disappointing to say you have to pigeonhole your offense to make Ewers passable given the amount of experience he has. It’s also just really disappointing not to see him develop any kind of consistency or truly progress despite all the playing time. Honestly, he may have even regressed in some areas like his processing. I wouldn’t say Ewers processing was good in the past but it seemed like it was slowly trending in the right direction. However, this season he seemed like he was way overthinking things and looked like a deer in the headlights sometimes just staring down his first read. For a quarterback who got to benefit from a good supporting cast and a good offensive game plan that had play action on 42.1% of his pass attempts (second highest in this prospective class), 17.5% of his pass attempts being screen passes (third highest of this prospective class), and 60% of his pass attempts going less than 10 yards from the line of scrimmage, it’s really disappointing to still see him so hesitant for anything past the line of scrimmage. His hesitation to get the ball downfield limited the offense and likely won’t get better in the NFL. When he did try to drive the ball down the field, Ewers had no regard for human life and would often throw hospital balls leading to his pass catchers taking huge hits. When he is throwing the ball, his funky, three-quarters release can make it difficult to put touch on throws and he often relies on sidearm throws which worsens his touch even further and can make it easier for the defender to make a play on the ball. Also, when he is rushing his process either due to getting flustered while reading the defense or from pressure, he can release the ball at the wrong release point leading to some way off targets. However, what led to a lot of his way off targets is his footwork. His lower body and upper body are almost never in sync and he even struggles to consistently get his toes pointed towards his target. His base width fluctuates all game with his tending to be way too narrow and completely collapsing under pressure. His dropback is also very narrow and very heel-clicky and he has a tendency to overstride on his deep ball leading to further accuracy problems downfield. All of those issues led to some really poor on platform charting results and if you don’t trust my results, I’ve been seeing a number of people who also chart quarterbacks say that his accuracy is one of the worst in the past few years. His pocket presence also leaves a lot to be desired for the amount of experience he has. He is just way too frozen in the pocket and could have avoided a lot of sacks had he just stepped up or made any sort of movement with his protection. When he does notice pressure, it’s usually too late to avoid the sack or he will even get too confident in his athletic ability to try to escape the pressure and misread his block leading to an unnecessary sack. He also can struggle to find passing windows with a high number of deflections, which again, speaks to my idea to have him work out of rollouts to clear the runway for him and get him where he’s most accurate.
With accuracy and ball placement making up nearly half of my grading, I knew Quinn Ewers would likely end up with a low grade. That being said, finishing with this low of a grade for a multiyear starter is really disappointing. I don’t use this argument often, but I truly think if Quinn Ewers didn’t go to Texas with the national attention the program gets and the supporting cast of players and coaches he had, the general consensus would be that he was at best a day 3 player. I just have a hard time seeing a team get that enthralled with what he’s put on tape the past few years. Plus the fact that he possibly regressed in some areas should be a red flag about the potential developments he can have in the NFL. The history of multiyear college starters who have poor footwork, poor pocket presence, poor accuracy, and poor decision making and processing is not one that works in his favor. Maybe a team gets sold on him after interviews but with the number of wide open throws he missed, it feels hard to think that the team workout wouldn’t make them change their minds. As he is now, if a team does want to target him, they better have a good three year-plan like the Packers had with Love otherwise I have a hard time seeing the pick pay off. As for a comp, I have DeShone Kizer as Quinn Ewers comp. Like Ewers, Kizer had a strong arm but a wonky release that affected his touch. However, both could drive the ball downfield and weren’t afraid to absorb a hit to make a throw. Both also weren’t great athletes but weren’t afraid to scramble. Unfortunately, both were wildly inconsistent in both their footwork and accuracy. Also, both were poor decision makers who were too reliant on their first read which led to too many turnovers. Both also had poor pocket presence and would take more sacks than was necessary. Like Kizer, Ewers could be targeted early due to his perceived potential and the pedigree of his program but will need to go to a patient coaching staff that will sit him for a few years. Kizer unfortunately was thrown into the fire his rookie year and never went to a stable or patient enough team to develop him which led to him being out of the league very quickly. I have concerns the same could happen to Ewers if a bone-headed team decides to take him early because they want “a winning QB” or an “experienced QB” and don’t have a real plan for him.