Quinn Ewers' agent claims NFL teams' explanation for Texas QB's draft slide was "chickensh*t"

Quinn Ewers entered the 2025 NFL Draft with hopes of being one of the top quarterbacks selected this year. It apparently didn't work out the way that he was hoping after being selected in the seventh round by the Miami Dolphins with the 231st overall pick. He was the 13th and final quarterback drafted this year.

His agent, Ron Slavin, reportedly reached out to many teams to inquire about Ewers ultimately slid into the final round of the draft. He told ESPN's Todd Archer what he found out about their thought process of passing on him several times, according to Pro Football Talk.

Slavin stated:

"They thought he was a third or fourth round pick, but too big of a name to be a clipboard holder. Which I think is chickensh*t."

This creates an interesting situation for Quinn Ewers, as apparently, many teams graded him as a mid-round pick, but also believed that he would need some time to develop his game before becoming a potential starter. Calling him "too big of a name" to be a backup may be a direct result of the NIL era, according to PFT.

Ewers was already a college football star with the Texas Longhorns, so some teams may have been concerned with how he would handle no longer being in the spotlight and going back to a developmental prospect. It's possible that this could also explain why Shedeur Sanders slid all the way to the fifth round after initially being expected to be a top-ten overall pick.

In the end, Ewers landed with the Miami Dolphins, where his situation as a backup is better than it would be for most other teams. If his goal is to find playing time, he has a real chance of finding it behind Tua Tagovailoa, who has an extensive injury history.

Quinn Ewers' rookie outlook with Dolphins

Quinn Ewers

While Quinn Ewers may have been picked much later on in the 2025 NFL Draft than he was hoping for, he actually landed in a better situation than he would have been in with most other teams. It was never realistic that he would earn an immediate starting role in his rookie season, but the Miami Dolphins' quarterback situation offers him a legitimate path to get on the field at some point.

Tua Tagovailoa has completed a full season just once in his five years with the Dolphins so far, so his massive injury history suggests that he is unlikely to play in every game in the upcoming season. If Ewers can surpass Zach Wilson as their primary backup this year, he may be called upon to start a game at some point and prove whether or not it was a mistake for him to slide in the draft.