With the NFL Draft now just weeks away, the mock drafts have seemingly given us a look at where prospects will be expecting to hear their name called. However, with the hundreds of mock drafts that have already been published by a variety of different experts and analysts, and the more that are yet to come, the draft of Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers.
After going into his junior season with expectations from the outside suggesting he could solidify himself as one of the first signal-callers taken off the board. Ewers is now being projected to go, most likely on Day 2 of the NFL Draft. However, some see him as a Day 3 pick.
ESPN’s Ben Solak is one of those who sees Ewers going on Day 3 of the draft. But his projection is shockingly lower than most have previously projected for Ewers to be drafted. In a recent article where he projected which quarterbacks will be taken in the draft, he has Ewers waiting until the sixth round where he is taken by the Dallas Cowboys.
“The recruiting ranking was a product of Ewers’ live arm. He can generate velocity from a variety of arm angles, and he has a wicked quick release when throwing in rhythm,” Solak writes of Ewers.
Which probably has you thinking: but…
“The issue is that nothing else crystallized for Ewers over his time in college,” Solak writes. “He has worrisome sprays of poor accuracy to all three levels of the field, he struggles to throw receivers open against tight coverage and he often doesn’t seem to understand what defenses are doing to him. … So Ewers remains a developmental prospect in that he has the physical tools of an NFL quarterback but lacks many of the necessary skills to reliably play the position well.”
The concerns listed by Solak aren’t uncommon for Ewers’ evaluation. His accuracy has been a common criticism. He also notes the tendency of Ewers to step up into the pocket and the face of pressure, another common criticism.
But are all of those issues enough to see Ewers taken in the sixth round instead of, say, the fourth? Or the second where most experts have him going? The projection by Solak seems to suggest that he feels Ewers is likely to be a career backup in the NFL.
That especially feels true when Solak closes his evaluation of Ewers by saying he is still likely to be drafted based on his traits. Yet, he adds that he will likely be QB3 in Dallas and have to compete for the backup role behind Dak Prescott.
The Cowboys being mentioned as a potential suitor for Ewers does indeed make sense. They just lost long-time backup Cooper Rush in free agency to the Baltimore Ravens. And while they did just trade for Joe Milton after his rookie season with the New England Patriots, they likely won’t just hand him the backup role without competition.
It could make sense for them to draft a quarterback. And it could very well be with their sixth-round pick. But the likelihood of Ewers being available at pick No. 211 is very slim.