NFL Draft: Breaking down Ewers’ combine performance

With the Raiders reportedly interested in the Texas quarterback, how did he look in Indianapolis?

One rumor coming out of the NFL Combine is that the Las Vegas Raiders are interested in Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and could use their second-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on him, according to Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline.

“The Raiders like quarterback Quinn Ewers, probably even more so after his combine workout on Saturday,” Pauline wrote on March 2. “If the Raiders can’t swing a deal and move up for Cam Ward, keep an eye on Ewers to the team with their next pick. It could be the top of round two or a move into the back end of round one for the Texas passer, who is QB3 on most boards.”

In other words, Las Vegas is high on the former Longhorn and could make him the team’s quarterback of the future. Silver and Black Pride has already broken down what Ewers does well, so let’s dive deeper into his combine performance that reportedly caught the Raiders brass’ eyes.

Size

Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images

Ewers didn’t participate in any of the athletic testing drills like the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, etc., as most quarterbacks don’t these days. However, he did get measured, which gives us an idea of how he stacks up to other NFL QBs size-wise.

The Texas product came in at 6-foot-2⅛, 214 pounds, with 9⅜-inch hands and 30¾-inch arms. That’s pretty similar to Derek Carr’s measurements coming out of Fresno State. Carr is a quarter of an inch taller, the same weight, has smaller hands by a quarter of an inch and longer arms by three-quarters of an inch.

It’s important to note that both Carr and Ewers are considered a little undersized for the quarterback position in the NFL.

Performance

As referenced above, Ewers received lots of praise for his performance during the throwing session at the combine. Personally, I thought it was a little overhyped. There were plenty of completions from Ewers, but he also had several passes that were caught but slightly off-target, as I charted every throw from the video the NFL posted.

Ewers completed 16 of 22 attempts with four of those completions being slightly off the mark where the ball placement was either on the wrong shoulder, under or overthrown but still catchable. The most notable underthrows came on go routes where receivers had to slow down to make the catch.

While those numbers may not seem like a big deal, it’s important to remember that the throwing session at the combine is in a controlled environment designed to make the quarterbacks look good. There is no pass rush or any defensive backs on the field, so slight misses could result in incompletions or even interceptions on gameday.

Of Ewers’ six incompletions at the combine, one was the result of the receiver falling down, which isn’t his fault. However, the other five were a mixture of him missing in front, behind and under throwing receivers. The most alarming misses came on the comeback and corner routes, where he went 0/3 (including when the receiver fell) and 2/4, respectively.

The two off-target throws on the comebacks were both too far to the sideline, while one corner was underthrown and the other was too far in front of the receiver.

Overall, I thought Ewers’ performance in Indy was decent, just not as impressive as others seemed to think.

I have a hard time believing that most teams view him as QB3 in the draft class. But if the Raiders do and select the Texas product, they would get someone who has shown the ability to be a gunslinger and throw with anticipation at different points in his college career. It’d just be a matter of if and when he’d be able to put it all together in Las Vegas.