NFL insider sees similar 'quick twitch' between Quinn Ewers, Baker Mayfield

Scouting seems to never stop in the NFL, as evaluators are constantly looking at the college level to see who the potential stars of the future could be in the pros. And at the quarterback position heading into the upcoming college football season, a lot of eyes will be on Texas‘ Quinn Ewers to see if he can emerge as the top passer of the next draft class.

NFL Draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah recently took a first look at Ewers as a part of his preseason evaluations. Who enters his third season as the Longhorns’ starter after being one of the most highly touted high school recruits in recent memory now set to join the SEC.

Like all prospects, there are positives and negatives to Ewers’ game. Jeremiah is a fan of his urgency and tempo in the pocket, his quick feet that avoid rushers, and of course his highly regarded arm talent as a passer who throws effortlessly. Highlighted by some beautiful deep passes he threw on one of college football’s biggest stages in a win against Alabama last season.

Ewers can improve in how he sees the field along with some of his mechanics and fundamentals, but all in all, he reminds Jeremiah of former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield.

“Both guys have a quick twitch in everything they do — seeing the field, setting up in the pocket and delivering the ball. There’s a moxie and playmaking skill set to build around with both guys,” Jeremiah wrote on NFL.com. “Mayfield has really blossomed in Tampa Bay after bouncing around the league for the past few years. I don’t think Ewers is quite as polished as Mayfield was at the same point in his college career, but I do see similar upside and potential.”

Mayfield put up monster numbers in his final season with the Sooners where he took home the Heisman Trophy and earned himself a No. 1 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft. Posting 4,627 yards and 43 touchdown passes.

Ewers has not yet reached those heights statistically but is coming off of his best season to date with even more room to improve after throwing for 3,479 yards and 22 touchdowns last season for Texas. And on the Move The Sticks podcast, Jeremiah’s co-host Bucky Brooks not only agreed with the comparison, but believes that the two passers from rival programs posses similar intangibles as well.

“Some of Baker’s best traits were the self assuredness, the belief, the confidence that he not only had, he projected and gave his teammates in him. Meaning that he was so good at what he did that the team had a belief that if we just give Baker Mayfield the ball we’re going to finish the game, we’ll find a way to win,” Brooks explained. “When you watch Texas play there’s a little bit of belief that they know that we got a dude at quarterback, and as long as we have a dude, we have a chance.”

There’s no doubt that Ewers has the talent and potential to be an elite quarterback at the NFL level, and it will be fascinating to see if he can continue to grow this upcoming college football season and set himself up to be a franchise quarterback in the future.

“We’ve talked about franchise quarterbacks giving the franchise hope. Quinn Ewers has the type of game that if you take him, you have the hope that he is going to be the guy that in a two-minute situation if we need it he can find a way to get it done. And I think that is everything when it comes to the evaluation,” Brooks concluded.