The Miami Dolphins selected former Texas QB Quinn Ewers in the seventh round of the NFL Draft. To be frank, it was surprising that Ewers fell so far considering he led the Longhorns to the College Football Playoff despite a season full of Arch Manning hype. However, Ewers took his drop in stride, which is a mentality Tua Tagovailoa could learn from.
While Ewers has had an up-and-down minicamp thus far, his leadership skills cannot be doubted. Here is what the seventh-round selection had to say about his steep draft drop.
"Just take advantage of every opportunity because there's a lot of guys out there right now, and everyone's fighting for the same job, and we're all competitive, but it's cool at the same time," Ewers said. "At the end of the day, some of these guys are gonna end up being teammates with us but you gotta earn the job and earn the trust of those guys as well. So it's been cool."
Tua Tagovailoa could learn a thing or two from Quinn Ewers
Ewers is taking advantage of every opportunity he gets. Given where he was drafted, he doesn't know which dropback could be his last. Sadly, this is a mentality Tagovailoa may have to adapt as well given his inability to stay healthy. Tagovailoa played in just 11 games last season due to concussions. He's suffered far too many head injuries during his five-year NFL career.
While there is no one coming for his job at this juncture, the concept that each and every play could be his last is as uncomfortable as it is realistic. Tagovailoa had a difficult conversation with his family following his latest head injury and opted to continue playing. That is well within his right, and there's a lot of money on the line.
What he can learn from Ewers, however, is to take his career one day at a time. The future is unpredictable, and no one in the NFL knows this better than Tagovailoa.
Quinn Ewers knows he won't take Dolphins starting QB job anytime soon
To his credit, Ewers also understands that he's little more than depth behind Tua at this stage of his career.
"I didn't expect to fall as low as I did, but circumstances being it is what it is at the end of the day, and I have the same opportunity as everybody else does, and I'm beyond thankful for that," Ewers said. "And I just want to go in there and play my game at the end of the day and learn and develop as a quarterback."
If Ewers is lucky enough to make the Dolphins roster, he'll have just as much to learn from Tagovailoa as Tua can learn from him. Such is the nature of a 53-man roster full of intriguing personalities and underdog stories.