The Miami Dolphins added a notable name to their quarterback room in the final round of the 2025 NFL draft Saturday.
The team selected Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers with the 231st pick in the seventh round, adding him to a room with starter Tua Tagovailoa and backup Zach Wilson. Ewers’ selection continues a notable trend for the Dolphins.
He’s the third consecutive non-first-round quarterback selected in the seventh round, following Brandon Doughty in 2016 and Skylar Thompson in 2022. The last time the Dolphins selected a quarterback in Rounds 3,4, or 5 was 1990.
We wrote about the possibility that the Dolphins should add another young quarterback in the draft and even named Ewers the quarterback who most resembles Tua’s play style, so this pick makes sense from multiple perspectives.
Most media boards had Ewers as one of the 10 best quarterbacks in the class, so the Dolphins making him the 13th quarterback off the board is technically good value.
How Ewers Fits in Miami
Ewers already should be pretty familiar with a lot of the broad concepts in Miami’s offense.
Texas head coach and play-caller Steve Sarkisian studied the Dolphins’ offense and assigned Ewers many of the same pre-snap motion and ball-handling responsibilities that Tagovailoa has in Miami.
Ewers was asked to work quick-game concepts similarly to Tagovailoa and to throw with trust in the offense more than reading out defenses.
Pair that with Ewers’ mediocre-at-best arm talent, and it’s easy to see why coach Mike McDaniel feels like his system can maximize the Texas product. Ewers has to win with anticipation from the pocket and can’t afford to hold the ball and hunt big plays down the field.
He’s got a lean frame and doesn’t have the needed athletic profile to extend plays and make throws out of structure. The Dolphins’ offense focuses on getting the ball out quickly, which should protect Ewers from having to do too much on his own.
Although Ewers doesn’t project like a potential starter, he could be capable of keeping the Dolphins’ offense afloat as a backup, assuming he develops well enough.
Why Backup QB Is Extra Important
Miami’s lack of a good backup quarterback during the McDaniel era has sunk several promising seasons. Tagovailoa is a good quarterback when he plays, but he’s played one full season and has suffered a myriad of injuries.
This offseason, the Dolphins have made an effort to fix this problem long-term by investing in young players at the position instead of veterans. Wilson is 25 years old with many promising traits, but he needs to be developed a lot.
Ewers’ traits are far less good, but he might be more mechanically sound and accurate than Wilson. Either way, the Dolphins seem to be prioritizing figuring out the backup quarterback position in the long run, rather than this season.
We don’t have a lot of optimism that’ll be successful with Wilson and Ewers, but the thought process makes sense. Hitting on a young backup, especially one in the draft, would allow the Dolphins to save money by not paying out a quarterback-inflated contract every offseason.
And it would also give the team some stability behind Tagovailoa. Whether Ewers works out or not, the Dolphins need to start taking swings at quarterbacks who can fill the backup spot. Taking that swing in the seventh round is about as low risk as it gets.
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