Quinn Ewers reveals wild way he realized he was starting over Tua

Miami Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers was just a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, but he eventually found himself starting games toward the end of the season.

While Ewers wasn’t a high draft pick, the Dolphins gave him the nod when they decided to bench Tua Tagovailoa late in the 2025 campaign. The decision to start Ewers came even with veteran Zach Wilson on the roster.

Ewers recently revealed that he did not expect to be named the team’s starting quarterback.

“To be honest, no,” Ewers said in an interview with RG. “But I feel like I do a good job of just kind of rolling with the cards that are dealt. I didn’t put too much thought into not expecting it, if that makes sense after the fact.”

Ewers said that it’s a “funny story” how he figured out he was going to be leading the Dolphins late in the season. The former University of Texas star made three starts to close out the regular season, winning one of those games.

“We had just gotten back from Pittsburgh,” Ewers said. “It was a late flight. We got in that Monday morning, probably around 4 a.m., so I slept in as long as I could. I woke up at like 11, and I had a call from my quarterbacks coach. He told me that Coach [Mike] McDaniel was talking about maybe starting me that week against the [Cincinnati] Bengals.”

“Obviously I started to study up on whatever I could, and then we get the install, and there was a specific play that we had carried for a couple of weeks. It was a play that we were only going to run one way because it was a roll pass to the left, obviously, because Tua is a lefty. I saw it rolling right instead of left. That’s kind of how I figured it out that I was probably going to be playing. When Mike told me, I was fired up for the opportunity.”

Across four appearances (three starts) in the 2025 season, Ewers completed 66.3 percent of his passes for 622 yards, three scores and three interceptions. He also carried the ball eight times for 19 yards.

Ewers may not be the Dolphins’ long-term answer at quarterback, but he did lead them a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, throwing for 172 yards and two scores in that game. There’s a chance he’ll compete for the starting job in the 2026 season, although the Dolphins have a lot of things to figure out at the quarterback position in the offseason.

During the 2025 season, Miami posted a losing record (6-8) in Tagovailoa’s 14 starts, and the former first-round pick threw for 2,660 yards, 20 scores and 15 picks in those games. He also saw his completion percentage drop to 67.7, over five percent worse than it was in the 2024 season when he completed an NFL-best 72.9 percent of his passes.

Miami could look to move on from Tagovailoa, but the 2026 NFL Draft isn’t loaded with quarterback talent. As such, the Dolphins could look to add a veteran or have a complete quarterback competition going into next season.

Ewers clearly stayed ready to play during his rookie season, and he’ll likely jump at a chance to start again in 2026.