‘A wonderful opportunity.’ New Dolphins QB1 Quinn Ewers is excited for first start
Quinn Ewers had to be patient.
The former Texas standout’s collegiate career ended rather unfortunately with an 82-yard strip-and-score courtesy of his former Ohio State roommate Jack Sawyer in the Cotton Bowl. Nearly 340 days have passed since that moment, the last time Ewers played meaningful football, and Wednesday when he was named the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins. The experience, according to the 22-year-old, was “a lot.”
“It’s been a lot of leading me to where I’m at now,” Ewers said, adding that “I just lean back on my faith and that foundation that I think I’ve done a good job building.”
With Tua Tagovailoa now benched, it will be the Ewers show on Sunday vs. the Cincinnati Bengals after Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel confirmed the reports Wednesday afternoon. It was a decision that McDaniel said he didn’t take lightly, yet he was under the belief that Ewers gave the team the best chance for “convicted quarterback play.”
“Quinn has a natural disposition of confidence – not cockiness but confidence – and if you saw his face on draft day, he’s a competitor who believes in himself,” McDaniel said Wednesday. “He was very excited about the opportunity, but also very understanding of what it means.”
Ewers was excited to say the least.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” said Ewers who added that his 12-year-old self would “be pretty stoked” for his first start. “I’m super thankful to that the staff believes in me to go out there and go win a NFL football game.”
Although saddened by Tagovailoa’s demotion, many of Ewers’ teammates were ecstatic for the rookie. Chubb, in particular, mentioned that Ewers had already shown flashes of promise as a scout team quarterback.
“I made a joke that he pisses the linebackers off doing that no-look stuff and running around,” Chubb said, calling Ewers “dawg.” “I feel like he’s going to step in and do what he needs to do. He had a great career in college, and it’s just about transferring it to the league now.”
The goal is now for leaders like Chubb and Aaron Brewer to build up Ewers’ confidence over the next few days.
“Saying something to him, just not leaving him out in the cold,” Chubb said. “As you walk by Q, ‘Can’t wait to see you do your thing.’ Just little words of encouragement to help him understand that we all on his side, and we’re all behind him.”
Added Brewer: “He’s always near the huddle. Pushing our same tempo, our same preparation style and just bringing him along will allow him to have that confidence. He’s been playing quarterback his whole life, so I’m pretty sure he got that quarterback mentality, the demeanor, and he’ll bring it coming forward.”
To say that Ewers’ next few days will be extremely difficult is an understatement. The rookie did not take any first-team reps until today – and it was during a walkthrough rather than a full practice. It does, however, help that Ewers ran a similar offense at Texas under coach Steve Sarkisian.
“It’s very similar,” Ewers said, calling his experience with the Longhorns “helpful.” “We both like to motion a lot. We like to add a lot of eye candy to the defense. And we run a lot of the same schemes.”
Still, it will be worthwhile to see whether Ewers has the very conviction that McDaniel deemed necessary to start in his offense.
“With time and reps, you get more comfortable,” Ewers said, later adding that it’s his job to show that he’s “convicted” because McDaniel “does a really good job harping on conviction over perfection which I think allows us to play and have no fear of failure.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2025 at 7:05 PM.
