It’s wild how fast the world flips on you. One minute you’re the chosen one, and the next thing you know, you’re sitting there on Day 3 of the NFL Draft watching cats like Tyler Shough get picked before you. Quinn Ewers, once the most hyped recruit in football history, crashed hard at the 2025 NFL Draft. Miami Dolphins scooped him up with the 231st pick in the seventh round—a whole $4 million lighter than he could have been. And the craziest part? He low-key did it to himself.

The whole draft was already a circus. Shedeur Sanders fell like a rock to the fifth round, but what happened to Ewers? Diabolical, if you actually think about it. That was a straight-up free fall. On April 26th, Fox Sports’ RJ Young went on his The Number 1 college football podcast and didn’t hold back. “But when you look at the guys that are drafted ahead of Quinn Ewers, you have to ask some real questions. Riley Leonard drafted before Quinn Ewers, as was Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders, Tyler Shough—my goodness. Jaxon Dart is one thing, Tyler Shough is another. Jalen Milroe, another. Kyle McCord, another. Will Howard, another. It’s getting really difficult to defend this.” No lie, Quinn Ewers literally became the 13th quarterback to get selected in the 2025 draft.

Young kept it 100, saying Ewers should’ve followed Carson Beck’s playbook—hit the portal, cash a fat NIL check, ball out somewhere new, then hit the draft and potentially be the No.1 overall pick like Cam Ward. “Carson Beck saw what Cam Ward was able to do with just one more year at Miami—and that’s go number one, right?” RJ laid it out plain. “If you’re Quinn Ewers, you probably make $5 million to transfer to almost anywhere else.” Places like Alabama, Florida State, Oregon—you name it, they would’ve handed him the keys and kissed the rings. Instead, Ewers stayed loyal, stayed put, and then tried to skip steps. But football gods don’t play like that.

Ewers’ fall wasn’t just about politics, either. Injuries stacked up like bad debts—oblique tear, UCL issues, high ankle sprain. In 2024 alone, he was fully healthy for just three games. Scouts didn’t forget that when draft day rolled around. Once you start hearing “durability concerns” whispered at your pro day, your draft stock drops faster than a mixtape with no features. Just imagine Quinn at USC with Lincoln Riley working his magic? Instead, the Texas Gunslinger chose to hit the draft early and got humbled, big time.

Miami wasn’t even tripping when they grabbed him. They’d already beefed up their lines, taking Michigan’s Kenneth Grant and Arizona’s Jonah Savaiinaea. Scooping Ewers in the seventh was a pure lottery ticket move. Dolphins GM Chris Grier swore they liked what they saw at Texas’ pro day. “We were impressed,” Grier said. “Sark really likes him and was high on him, talking about him playing through the injuries this year–which affected his play a little bit.” If it wasn’t for his back-to-back injuries, Ewers would be a 1st-round pick. Ewers threw for 9,128 yards and 68 touchdowns at Texas, after all. He still led the Longhorns to back-to-back Playoff runs. But those numbers didn’t stop reality from smacking.

And when it came down to paychecks, the numbers slapped different. Being a seventh-rounder, Spotrac estimates Quinn’s looking at a four-year deal around $4.33 million. Not bad—if you forget, he pretty much fumbled an $8 million NIL bag that Big Ten schools were ready to throw at him if he just transferred and balled out. The cold truth? Quinn Ewers went from being the guy in high school—the No. 1 recruit with a cannon arm and slick mullet—to being the 13th quarterback drafted behind Mertz Graham. What even. Yikes.

Should Quinn Ewers have opted to play his senior year in college instead of entering the draft?

Quinn had a standing $6-8 million NIL offer on the table to transfer after the 2024 season. Big Ten squads were ready to open up the vault for him. But instead of cashing out, homie bet on himself, thinking he’d sneak into the top 100 picks. Reality check: he was the 13th quarterback off the board. That’s not just a “bad break”—that’s an all-time “what were you thinking?” moment.

NFL Rookie even jumped on IG with the receipts: “Quinn Ewers reportedly ‘could’ve been’ a 1st round QB in 2026 if he returned to college and put together a year of good film with a different team.” That’s not internet cap either. With one good year at a powerhouse—Oregon, USC, or Bama—Quinn could’ve flipped the whole narrative. Instead, he’s catching connecting flights to Miami, praying to beat out Zach Wilson for the backup job.

And look, the writing was on the wall. Cam Ward’s blueprint was right there for everybody to see. Stay one more year. Get healthy. Ball out. Bag a top draft spot. But Quinn? It’s like he was too stubborn to read the signs. Carson Beck saw it. Stayed. Cashed out. Ward saw it. Stayed. Cashed out. Quinn? Took the hard road. Quinn Ewers low-key fumbled a guaranteed $4 million with this move.

And it isn’t like Ewers didn’t have options. Imagine if he pulled up at Oregon with that speed offense? USC with Lincoln Riley drawing up magic? Even Penn State, desperate for a real QB? He would’ve been “the man” overnight. Instead, he’s now just another name on the Dolphins’ roster trying to crack the practice squad. And look, we aren’t saying he’s done. Miami got Mike McDaniel, Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle, so the setup isn’t terrible. But this isn’t the fairytale ending people predicted when Quinn left high school with the “Next Enhanced Brady” tag on his back. He’s got a long road back to relevance.

Bottom line? Quinn Ewers went from ‘can’t miss it for the world’ to ‘barely picked’ in less than 3 years. And the worst part? He low-key did it to himself. In the new NIL world, one wrong move can cost you millions. And for Quinn, that wrong move just turned into the most expensive ‘what if’ in college football history.