Former Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers was selected in the seventh round of the NFL Draft and less than 24 hours later he’s being compared to Dan Marino. Yes, the same Dan Marino who played his entire Hall of Fame career with. The same team who drafted Ewers which is what makes this comparison intriguing and highly premature.
I like Quinn Ewers over Tua already. He's Dan Marino 2.0 and yes..I said it.
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) April 26, 2025
Dez Bryant, former Dallas Cowboys former star wide receiver, seems to be leading the charge here. He’s already looking to replace Tua Tagovailoa with Ewers. The latter was very close to not being drafted. Tua was a top-five pick in 2020 and despite some rough patches early on and injuries along the way, has become a pretty solid QB when healthy.
Quinn Ewers learned how to play football by emulating Dan Marino
Ewers himself noted that he learned how to throw by emulating Marino's style. Yes, seriously.
"My dad would always tell me when I'm growing up that I need to have a quick release like Dan Marino," Ewers said, per the Palm Beach Post. "So I grew up hearing my dad talk about him all the time."
Still, even Ewers wouldn't go as far as to compare himself to an all-time great. However, Dolphins fans may notice some similarities.
"I've always felt that I've always I was always a natural thrower of the football and it always came natural to me," Ewers continued, again per the Palm Beach Post. "But I mean it took a lot of work for sure because you know I give a lot of credit to it was my quarterback coach by the name of Jeff Christiansen and the quick release really starts from my feet and I want to get my my front foot down as fast as possible, which allows me to have that that quick release at those critical moments."
Stop the presses: Quinn Ewers isn't Dan Marino to the Dolphins just yet
Of course, Marino is the one with all the accolades including a league MVP award, nine Pro Bowl appearances and three All-Pro selections among other awards. Tagovailoa isn’t Marino but he’s proven over the past few years that he can play and be successful in the NFL. Both were first-round picks in their respective draft classes (Marino 27th overall) while Ewers was nearly Mr. Irrelevant.
While being the final pick in the draft has taken on a whole new meaning since Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers entered the league, that outcome should not be expected for every seventh-round pick. Bryant seems optimistic about Ewers's chances in the NFL but as a seventh-round pick, he’ll need to make the team first and foremost.
Seventh-round picks are not guaranteed anything in this league and have to grind for every opportunity. Anyone is entitled to their opinion on any of these players but taking Ewers over Tagovailoa at this juncture seems ridiculous. Ewers may very well make a name for himself in the NFL but putting the Marino comparison on him this early is misguided and unfair.