Quinn Ewers is building momentum

I’ve long thought that teams would be more interested in Quinn Ewers’ natural talent than the internet was. In an age where big stats and flashy one-off plays clipped for social media are king, the NFL still requires basic fundamentals such as footwork, throwing with anticipation, arm strength and translatable game-evidence to project success.

These skills don’t guarantee anything at the next level but they’re basic aspects of scouting that are sometimes overlooked online, which is often why we see players over-projected.

Ewers’ display on the road against Alabama last year would’ve stuck in the minds of many in the NFL. It was a terrific showcase of the clear gifts he has a quarterback, mixed in with a top-level performance in a hostile environment against a high-level opponent, where his performance significantly contributed to the win — all while showing off NFL caliber throws.

His latest win against Michigan isn’t quite as comparable because they’ve turned into a shoddy mess after losing a bunch of talent (personnel and coaching) to the NFL. Yet it was another tick in a box for Ewers. Texas blew Michigan’s doors off, they didn’t just win. Ewers, with many projectable throws in the game, was integral to everything. He excelled against a Wink Martindale defense carrying two potential top-10 picks.

Here are the key notes — he again showed terrific poise in the pocket, a good arm, anticipation and accuracy and he was in total command of the offense.

Let’s just take a moment to reflect on the last few months for Ewers. Many Texas fans wanted him out of the way so Arch Manning could take over. Draft Twitter loved to diminish his talent and NFL potential, choosing to elevate others instead. It has felt like a lot of people have been waiting for him to fail.

The fact he is taking this in his stride so brilliantly and looks better than ever to start this season is testament to his character.

He started the Michigan game with a 40-yard touch pass thrown in-between two defenders, setting the tone. He was denied a touchdown on the opening drive due to a hold — but what he did, running to the right sideline and throwing across his body for a 30-yard score, would’ve had Twitter shouting ‘first overall pick’ a year ago if it was Drake Maye.

He came straight back on the next drive and got his touchdown — leading a great drive that ended with brilliant pocket manipulation to move away from pressure, step-up and then throw perfectly on the move into the end zone for a highly skilful score that he made look easy:

With 6:42 left in the first half he again stepped up through traffic in a crowded pocket, side-stepped two defenders into an area of space and then flicked his wrist, delivering a bullet 25-yards downfield between three defenders.

Look at the anticipation on the throw (see screen grab). You can see when he releases the football the receiver is actually positioned and blocked off by the defender to the right of the shaded circle. You can’t even see the receiver in the screen-grab below. He throws to the area (circled) he anticipates his receiver will run into and he does this while on the move, avoiding pressure to create space in the pocket. There is no reduction in arm strength or accuracy when he throws on the run:

This is a NFL play. There simply aren’t many quarterbacks in college who can evade pressure with this level of ease, then while on the move just flick their wrist to generate power on the football with a super-quick release and deliver a highly accurate, layered pass. By the way, this throw happened on 3rd and 10. That’s a money down. This is what you look for.

His second touchdown was on the run, moving to his left hand side and he’s asked to throw across his body to a covered receiver at the left pylon. As a play-call I am not a fan of this play. It demands a lot from a quarterback with a high risk of a turnover if the execution is off. It’s very difficult to run to your left as a right handed QB and throw to such a small strike zone with velocity and accuracy. He nailed it:

There was a throw with 11:34 left in the third quarter where he just casually rolls back off play-action and throws with little balance and no set-feet with more velocity and accuracy than most players manage with their feet planted in a clean pocket. He makes a big completion to the sideline and it looked easy.

Ewers was poised in the pocket throughout, at one point staring down pressure, anticipating a hit and still delivering a perfect dime over the middle on 2nd and 15 for a first down. Joe Klatt on commentary called the pass ‘beautiful’ and he’s bloody right. I’ve come to think Ewers almost makes things look too easy sometimes because of his natural ability and a lot of what he does well is taken for granted.

Ideally would he be a bit bigger? Yes. Does he have to show he can stay consistent and healthy this year? Absolutely. I do believe though that NFL evaluators will rate him very highly. Ewers is a legit player and is very much in the QB1 running and therefore in the running to be the top pick, should he maintain this level of performance. I suspect he’ll get a lot more attention after this game and really, it’s overdue compared to some of the other quarterbacks getting pumped-up online.

Riley Leonard is what he is

I was amazed by just how bad Notre Dame were against Northern Illinois. I started watching live in the second half after returning from a long working trip. They couldn’t move the ball. They had absolutely no means of driving on NIU. Meanwhile, their far less established opponents were beating them up in the trenches when they had possession and putting consistent drives together.

NIU would move across half-way only to stall just outside of field goal range and then fail on a fourth down attempt. In the end, they did just enough to get into range for the winning kick. Make no mistake though — it was their O-line driving people off the ball. It was their defense timing pressure and blitzes to perfection. It was their quarterback making clutch plays on key downs. They thoroughly deserved to win.

NIU had two sacks and four TFL’s in the game, plus two picks. Notre Dame managed zero sacks and three TFL’s with no turnovers. Northen Illinois had a yardage advantage of 388 vs 286 and over nine more minutes of possession.

This brings me on to Riley Leonard. It just isn’t happening. The athletic potential has always been there but his total inability in this game to get even one drive going when it mattered said it all. He has no composure in the pocket, you can’t rely on his arm to get the job done and he simply isn’t a good enough passer to start in the NFL. He is a big athlete playing quarterback.

Look at his lousy interception late on — basically a big embarrassing arm punt into coverage when trying to protect or add to a small lead. Notre Dame are one-point up and he does that. A turnover, a return for great field position, a drive, a successful kick and a win for NIU.

Leonard is showing that despite his move to Notre Dame, he’s little more than a day three project at best. He finished 20/32 for 163 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.

Shedeur Sanders shows the other side to his evaluation

Last week I thought Sanders was excellent as Colorado struggled to beat North Dakota State. I praised his clear natural talent, both in terms of physicality and accuracy. He has the ability to be the top pick in 2025. Saturday reminds you why that might not happen.

Granted, he had no chance against Nebraska. His offensive line, just as it was last year, is abject. However, look at what we saw on Sunday. There’s bad offensive line play all across the NFL. The chances are he’ll be drafted to play on a team where the O-line is sub-par.

You won’t be able to say this after a game at the next level:

Sanders has managed to call out both his O-line and D-line here. And look, he has a point. But you don’t say this in public. You see every year, quarterbacks bending over backwards in the NFL to promote and thank their O-line teammates. Some buy them luxury gifts or take them out to dinner. There’s almost an unwritten rule that in the NFL, you have to look after the guys employed to look after you.

NFL evaluators will have noted this clip. If a team drafting in the top-15 takes him as part of an incomplete roster-build, is he going to start blaming the offensive line if things go badly? Leadership is about more than talent and execution. At the moment, Sanders very much feels like a player who has been the ‘bosses son’ throughout his college career.

Some teams will care about this and the rather weird social media adventure over the summer more than others. Some will have reservations about ‘Coach Prime’ and his likely noisy influence if they draft Shedeur. Other teams will just go all-in on the talent.

I have a theory that stuff like this is off-putting enough for Sanders to probably last deeper into round one than his talent ever should allow, creating a repeat of the Lamar Jackson situation. If you remember the 2018 draft, Lamar made his mother his agent with disastrous consequences. Teams found it hard to arrange meetings with him. He refused to do certain testing/workouts. A player with immense, obvious talent suddenly lasted to the final pick in round one.

Sanders has everything you need to be a good NFL quarterback in terms of skill. But if he wants to max-out his draft potential, he can’t be slamming his O-line publicly. Do that behind closed doors, with your dad, in his office. Everyone else is already noting how bad the O-line is, you don’t need to get involved.

In terms of what he showed against Nebraska, he threw a terrible interception by hitching and throwing way too late from inside his own endzone. He telegraphed the route and made it easy for the cornerback to undercut the route. As bad as his pass-pro was, he too often looked for the big play instead of just getting the ball out. He’s looking for massive chunk plays and needs to do a better job of taking what’s there.

Even so, he again showed clear physical potential and he has everything necessary to be an extremely high pick. Teams will have reservations though.

Other notes

— There was hope that Jalen Milroe would take a big step forward working with Kalen DeBoer but so far we aren’t seeing it. He deserves time working for a new coach but against USF his accuracy still was a concern when his feet aren’t set. He still looks like an athlete playing quarterback. He faced off against Byrum Brown who some have also talked up at QB. I thought Brown did a good job as a runner but showed little in the way of poise and accuracy as a passer.

— Garrett Nussmeier only had to contend with the Nicholls Colonels on Saturday but I thought he played very well again. He’s accurate, poised, throws with nice touch, he can move around, he throws well on the run and just does a lot of things at a good level. I’m not sure if he has major upside but he does a lot of things with a natural flair and he looked like a NFL player in his two starts so far.

— A few people have asked me to do more on the non-QB positions and I promise I will. Typically I like to get a good feel for the QB’s and then move on to other positions. I will say though, Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty has a chance to go in round one. He runs through tackles but shows good contact balance, he finishes runs, he can be an asset in the passing game, he can break off big runs and out-run defensive backs, he accelerates well to maximise openings and he just looks tremendous. He broke nine tackles against Oregon and has forced 22 missed tackles in two weeks. Jeanty is a stud.

— One of my favourite players eligible for 2025 is Alabama offensive line Tyler Booker. He plays with tremendous physicality, he’s a legit grown-man leader with elite-level maturity and on Saturday he was asked to shift from left guard to left tackle due to an injury to a teammate. The position-switch didn’t change his playing style:

Here’s Kalen DeBoer talking about Booker after the USF win: