Kelly: No turning back from Quinn Ewers now | Opinion
Maybe the Miami Dolphins had Quinn Ewers higher than Dillion Gabriel on the team’s draft board.
Or maybe they would have rated him higher than the college quarterbacks at South Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma, and other schools the team has been scouting this season.
While every team has its own evaluation of players available in free agency and the NFL draft, maybe the realization that Gabriel was the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns served as a wake-up call for the staff.
Maybe the Dolphins have a deal to trade Zach Wilson worked out, or want to send a signal to teams that might be interested in the 2021 second overall pick to come get him.
Maybe Ewers had a phenomenal week of practice running the scout team, getting the first-team defense prepared and the Dolphins wanted to reward him by putting him ahead of Wilson, making him Tua Tagovailoa’s backup, and playing him during his first NFL game when the 31-6 loss was at the “pull the starters” point.
“I have no clue,” Ewers said after the game when asked why the Dolphins made the switch at backup quarterback against the Browns. “I have no idea, to be honest with you.”
Will it continue through next week?
“We’ll see,” said Ewers, who completed 5 of 8 passes, throwing for 53 yards in his fourth-quarter work against the Browns.
He was sacked two times, and 40 of those 53 yards came on a deep pass to Dee Eskridge, which Ewers threw a second before being blasted by a Browns defensive lineman who had easily gotten by left guard Jonah Savaiinaea, a fellow rookie.
Ewers was told he would be the backup Saturday evening, after the team arrived at its Cleveland hotel.
“It was a usual week of work for me, working scout team or whatnot,” said Ewers, who completed 64.9% of his passes in college, throwing for threw for 9,128 yards and 68 touchdowns in three seasons at Texas. “At the end of the day, it’s part of our position to be prepared for the game plan, whatever it may be.”
After the game McDaniel admitted he told Wilson the switch had a ton to do with how he practiced that week, and the rainy conditions Miami was planning to play in.
“During the work week you’re offsetting some of the plays he’s making,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “It was much more about him and what he’s doing on the football field. Realistically, it was an assessment for this game. If a quarterback went in, with this particular defense, with all the variables applied I thought he’d give us the best chance to win.
“I did what people are counting on me to do,” McDaniel said, referring to playing the best player, which might sometimes require depth chart changes, which he has rarely made in his four seasons at the helm.
“What does it mean moving forward? I didn’t make the move with that in mind,” McDaniel said in a moment of transparency.
The former Longhorns standout, whom the Dolphins selected in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL draft, had a strong training camp and a solid exhibition season. But the Dolphins decided to make Wilson the backup, and plenty of that probably had to do with the $6 million salary they guaranteed him for the 2025 season.
But with Wilson seemingly not practicing to the team’s standard Miami went with the rookie.
If we’re being honest, the Dolphins should probably stick with Ewers as the No. 2 because the franchise needs to know what it has before season ends at the rate this 1-6 season is going.
There’s no upside to playing Wilson because he’s set to become a free agent in the offseason, and his play so far hints the Dolphins overpaid.
But maybe this is a one-time occurrence. Or maybe Ewers is the next Brock Purdy, a late-round selection whose performance as a fill-in starter won over the San Francisco locker room.
Only time, and opportunity will tell us.
“At the end of the day it’s what I’ve always dreamed of, to be in the shoes I’m in right now,” Ewers said. “I feel beyond blessed to be able to play….. Getting my feet wet.”
