Texas gunslinger Quinn Ewers brings a lot of mixed reviews as a 2025 NFL Draft prospect, several question marks heading into the season

Billed as the top quarterback recruit ever coming out of Southlake Carroll in the 2021 recruiting class by some, it has been a wild ride for Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers over the last three years. In order to capitalize on NIL opportunities, Ewers reclassified to the 2021 class after being a 2022 recruit originally and enrolled at Ohio State.

After one odd season with the Buckeyes, Ewers made his return to Texas, landing with his home state Longhorns. During his first season in 2022, Ewers was sporadic while being sidelined for part of the season with an injury. He threw for 2,177 yards and 15 touchdowns, with only six interceptions. Ewers was very erratic at times, completing only 58 percent of his passes and leaving a lot in terms of consistency to be desired.

His 2023 film was much better, seeing a huge jump in production while helping Texas secure a berth in the 2024 college football playoffs. In 12 games, Ewers threw 3,479 and 22 touchdowns, only six interceptions again, and upped his completion percentage to 69 percent. After that big jump in production, it was initially believed that Ewers would opt to be a part of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Ewers, instead, decided to return. That means that he will officially be a part of the 2025 NFL Draft. Despite continued growth, there are a wide range of opinions on the talented passer. Some are high, but some remain very skeptical.

In order to discuss some of the top 2025 NFL Draft prospects, with Ewers included, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Jordan Reid joined The First Team NFL Draft and College Football Podcast . That included what Ewers needs to show to scouts in 2024.

Here’s what Reid had to say about the Texas gunslinger:

The most to gain? I think it is Quinn Ewers without question. Honestly, just because there's a lot of question marks about him and scouts that I talk to guess he probably would’ve gone in the second or the third round if we would have came out last year. I haven't met Quinn but just hearing him talk at media days and just watching some interviews with him, I love the answer that he gave us why he came back to school and he said, I've just felt rushed all my life. I skipped my senior year of high school to go to Ohio State. I was in a competition with CJ Stroud that I wasn't really prepared for and then at Texas last year, I didn't want to come out just because I didn't want to feel rushed going to the NFL.

I thought he was inconsistent for most of the season last year, but there's some spots. They really give you a lot of hope for Quinn. I go to the second half of the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma. I thought he played really well after a shaky start. Then I thought he played well in the college football playoffs last year. The Washington game was really fun. I thought he made some good throws in that one. The deep ball accuracy does need to improve. I definitely think he leaves it hanging a little bit too high at times but what I love about Quinn and what is very similar to Carson Beck this year is that they lost a ton of production on offense.

I mean all his weapons are gone, Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Ja’Tavion Sanders, Jonathan Brooks. So he's going to have to shoulder the load while he's getting older. He's welcoming these new targets like Isaiah Bond and some other players that they're really excited about this year. They have a bunch of young running backs in the backfield that they're really excited about at Texas as well. So he's going to have to get acclimated to a bunch of new weapons while also taking the next step in his game as well. So I'm really excited to see Quinn Ewers play this play this year and I think he has the most to gain out of anybody.

Related: Georgia defender could be top overall prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft next April, breakdown included

Roberts’ Take

Saying that there are mixed opinions on Ewers would be a massive understatement. When it comes to the baseline ability to generate easy velocity with almost no effort, Ewers is about as talented as anyone. Whether he is throwing with a good base or a compromised platform, Ewers is able to throw with pace and threaten multiple levels of the field. The arm talent is easy to get excited about.

The major areas of concern are deep ball accuracy and ability to manage chaos. For a kid who has such a gifted arm, his efficiency really deteriorates down the field. Ewers is just not comfortable when it comes to ball placement when working the deeper level of the field. The same can be said about his pocket presence. Ewers fades a lot off his back foot, which affects the ability to not only work down the field, but throw with accuracy. He becomes far too chaotic working through pressure.