6. Quinn Ewers (Texas)
Grade: Day three
Once the top quarterback recruit in the country out of high school, Ewers spent a year at Ohio State before transferring to the University of Texas. While a member of the Longhorns, Ewers led them to tremendous success, including two playoff appearances and numerous big wins over the best teams in the country.
At his best, Ewers is a talented quarterback worth all the praise he received as a recruit. His arm is impressive, he flashes the ability to throw with velocity from a variety of arm angles. In addition, he is incredibly accurate in the short and intermediate areas of the field and has shown the ability to call his own protection, something many college passers are not asked to do.
However, Ewers simply doesn’t display these talents as often as you would expect. Most often choosing to throw floaters down the field rather than drive the ball, his overall accuracy suffers on these passes because of it, and he will often outright miss big plays because of how long the ball spends in the air.
While he certainly shows good processing pre-snap, this does not always carry over to post-snap where he is likely to get caught up in what he saw previously, even if the defense changes the picture, which leads to some brutal interceptions.
Still, the overall talent has never been a question for Ewers, and it will certainly earn him a shot in the NFL. If he played at the high end of his abilities, he would be a likely first-round pick. However, if he remains the timid, erratic quarterback he has been for much of his collegiate career, he will remain as a long-term back up.