By Mark Blaudschun
FWAA Columnist
His story is now at a crossroads.
One direction will take Quinn Ewers into a feel-good story which will make the Tom Brady saga of 25 years ago a worthy runner-up.
The other?
Well, right now that seems a much more likely scenario. Ewers, whose pedigree at quarterback in college football included stints at Ohio State and Texas, was a solid, but not spectacular quarterback with great expectations thrust on him never quite met.
What’s much clearer is that Ewers could have been the poster boy for the world of college athletics in 2025, a world which wasn't even fathomed as recently as 10 years ago and includes an era of free agency. He could have cut a seven-figure payoff several times over if he had stayed this season in college.
But Ewers, the five-star quarterback who came out of the Texas high school ranks, bailed out of the University of Texas, where he achieved numbers impressive enough to take him to the next level in the National Football League.
Ewers had a solid college season in 2024, leading the Longhorns to the national semifinals before losing to Ohio State. He passed for 3,472 yards and 31 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. For his career, Ewers accounted for 68 touchdowns and more than 9000 yards.
He also had one more year of eligibility remaining, but his stay at Texas ended because a recruit named Arch Manning was ready to move into a starting, if not starring role with the Longhorns. And quite frankly, Ewers had two seasons to get Texas into a national championship game, which is the goal of every Power 4 power. And he didn't do it.
Thanks to the new Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rules, Ewers still was making more than a million dollars a year at Texas. With the transfer portal available, reports are he was offered five times that much by several schools to stay in college.
The early NFL scouting reports on Ewers were not flattering, more negatives than positives. He was projected as a third or fourth-round draft pick.
Ewers accepted that promise. His legacy at Texas was secure. But he wanted to move to the next level and was not prepared to reinvent himself at another school, with all the scrutiny, even if the financial rewards could have been tremendous.
He gambled.
He lost, falling all the way to the seventh round, the 13th and last quarterback selected in the draft by the Miami Dolphins (231st pick).
Ewers acknowledges the reality of the situation, which seemingly diminished his chances in the NFL. Brady was a fifth-round pick from Michigan drafted by New England in the sixth round of the 2000 draft with the 199th pick.
"I didn't expect to fall as low as I did,'' said Ewers. "It is what it is at the end of the day, and I have the same expectations that everyone else does. And I'm beyond thankful for that. I just want to go there and play my game.”
It was the right response to a tough situation.
And Ewers may be right. The Dolphins have three quarterbacks on their training camp roster: starter Tua Tagovailoa, an injury-riddled (concussion) star; and backup Zach Wilson, a former first-round pick from the Jets, who bombed out.
The other option is Ewers, who signed a four-year, $4.3 million contract earlier this month with the Dolphins, where a million a year is probably the most that he could average. It is far less than what he could have made this season alone at a place like Notre Dame, especially considering NIL deals.
The fanfare will be almost non-existent after the opening flurry of stories about the new kid on the block who is trying to become the next Brady. Ewers could have been a kid in college for another year and improved his game before heading into the adult world.
He chose to follow a different route, which makes this a compelling tale.
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