Potential Raiders quarterback of the future now comes with a huge piece of baggage

When evaluating Quinn Ewers as an NFL Draft prospect, he could be Matthew Stafford—or he could be Sam Bradford. While both former college football stars at Georgia and Oklahoma went No. 1 overall in their respective drafts, only one is still playing in the NFL today. That would be the former Georgia star, Super Bowl champion and future Pro Football Hall of Famer Stafford. Bradford got paid!

What may have gotten lost in the sauce in Texas' massive blowout victory over UTSA was this: Ewers may not have the body to stay healthy at the next level. Heck, he can't even stay healthy in college! This is the third year in a row where Ewers has dealt with some sort of injury in his college career. Admittedly, he hasn't missed a ton of time, but he is not starting every single game.

Despite what you may have seen in Lexington on Saturday, Georgia's Carson Beck is QB1 on most people's big boards for a reason. He projects to be the next C.J. Stroud or Joe Burrow or some variation at the next level. Ewers has Stafford and Justin Herbert-level talent, but he seems to be as brittle as ole Floppy Sleeves. This could prevent a team like the Las Vegas Raiders from even drafting him.

Ewers is still firmly QB2 on my big board, but I most definitely have injury concerns about him.

Growing injury concerns might impact Quinn Ewers' NFL Draft stock

The good news for Ewers is that he has the potential to prove all of his doubters wrong by having the best season we have seen out of a Texas quarterback since Vince Young. If he plays up to his abilities—and Texas does too—he could win the Heisman Trophy and the Longhorns could win the College Football Playoff. The problem is even if Arch Manning is a more-than-capable backup, Ewers probably has to stay healthy.

If the injury concerns do follow Ewers out of Austin and into the draft process, that might be enough for him to fall outside of the top 10. Again, the importance of the position he plays should have him coming off the board even higher. The fact that this may not be the deepest quarterback draft class also helps Ewers' case to be a top-16 pick. We do have to wonder if the Raiders would bite on him though.

The Raiders could tread water with Gardner Minshew II and Aidan O'Connell for the time being, but we all know that is not a recipe for success under center long-term in the NFL. Las Vegas might be the next most quarterback-desperate team behind the New York Giants. Still, they are going to have to choose wisely between guys like Ewers, Colorado's Shedeur Sanders or even Alabama's Jalen Milroe.

Overall, we are not even a third of the way through the season and Ewers got himself hurt once again.