The Miami Dolphins traded quarterback Quinn Ewers to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday, less than 24 hours before the deadline to cut to 53 and eight months after he took the starting job away from Tua Tagovailoa.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo first reported the deal shortly after 4:30 p.m. EST, and the Dolphins made it official, pending a physical.
Miami receives a 2028 sixth-round pick. That detail took most of an hour to settle, and the confusion is worth explaining, because a version of it will circulate for days.
BREAKING: The Jaguars are sending a 2028 sixth-round pick to the Dolphins in exchange for QB Quinn Ewers, per @AdamSchefter
— Dolphin Nation (@Dolphin_Nation) August 29, 2026
How the compensation got reported wrong
ESPN’s Adam Schefter initially reported that the two teams were exchanging 2028 Day 3 picks, which would have meant Miami sent something back. Roughly 40 minutes later he corrected it: The Jaguars are sending a 2028 sixth-round pick to the Dolphins for Ewers, full stop.
The Miami Herald‘s Barry Jackson pointed out that four national insiders had the swap version before the correction and laid out what Miami actually holds: Its own picks in rounds one through six in 2027 plus a Steelers sixth from the Jalen Ramsey trade and a Giants seventh, and in 2028 the Jaguars’ sixth is the lone extra.
So for 2027 draft, Dolphins have own picks round 1 to 6 and a Steelers 6th rounder from Ramsey trade and Giants' 7th rounder… For 2028, Dolphins' one extra pick is Jaguars 6th rounder acquired a bit ago for Ewers… What led 4 insiders to report Ewers was pick swap (it was not…
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) August 29, 2026
Why the Dolphins moved on
The trade itself was not a surprise to the people covering the team. There were mixed views inside the building about keeping Ewers and “there was sentiment in front office for a different no. 2.”
Can confirm Quinn Ewers trade to Jags. As we noted yesterday, there were mixed views internally about keeping him. There was sentiment in front office for a different no. 2
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) August 29, 2026
He added that Ewers had backing on the coaching staff but that the front office was unhappy with his training camp after a strong May and June, and that Ewers attributed his camp struggles to injuries.
The injury part is documented. Ewers went 1 of 8 for 27 yards with an interception in the preseason opener at Washington and then missed time with a groin injury. ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques characterized Ewers as having taken a step back in camp while dealing with the injury for two weeks.
Jeff Hafley had been careful not to hand Ewers the job. Asked Tuesday whether QB2 was still a competition, the coach said, “Yeah, I think so. Quinn really hasn’t been able to go very much,” according to the team’s transcript.
Ewers was cleared to practice this week but did not play Friday against Atlanta because the staff wasn’t comfortable letting him move around on the groin, Furones reported. He never got the audition, and by Saturday afternoon the front office had decided it didn’t need one.
From starter to sixth-round pick in eight months
The arc is what makes this land in Miami. Ewers was the 231st pick in the 2025 draft, per Pro Football Reference, one of the last quarterbacks taken. By December he had replaced a benched Tagovailoa as the starter, and he finished his rookie year with four appearances, 622 passing yards and three touchdowns, according to PFR. He made three starts [UNVERIFIED — start count and three interceptions drawn from secondary sources; confirm on PFR game log before publish], including a Week 17 win over Tampa Bay.
That was enough to keep him in the conversation through the offseason until the Dolphins signed Malik Willis in free agency and made him the starter. [INTERNAL LINK: NFL execs ranked Willis behind Tua → https://dolphinnation.com/2026/08/05/malik-willis-ranked-behind-tua-tagovailoa-in-nfl-exec-survey/] Ewers publicly embraced the backup role, but the camp that followed, by the front office’s judgment, did not hold up. A seventh-round pick who returned a sixth-round pick after one season is, on paper, a small profit. In practice it is the Dolphins deciding the guy who ended their 2025 season under center was not worth a roster spot in 2026.
What Jacksonville gets
Rapoport reported that the Jaguars had been quietly calling around on backup quarterbacks and landed one with starting experience.
The #Jaguars have been quietly calling around on backup QBs and land one with Ewers, who has starting experience. https://t.co/CM0RFNhvY0
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 29, 2026
Jacksonville’s room behind Trevor Lawrence had been Nick Mullens, Carter Bradley and rookie Joey Aguilar. Ewers is 23 and under a rookie contract through 2028, which for a team looking for a cheap No. 2 with reps is the whole appeal.
The backup problem the trade creates
The immediate consequence is on Miami’s side. Hafley said Saturday morning, before the trade, that the Dolphins would likely keep two quarterbacks.
With Ewers gone, the two candidates left on the roster are Cam Miller and Mark Gronowski, and neither has made a case. The pair have not impressed as the third and fourth quarterbacks, and that Miami’s next backup could be on another team’s roster right now, cut Sunday and bound for South Florida by Monday.
The trade effectively guarantees the Dolphins will use the waiver wire to find their No. 2. Miami will have to add a quarterback who either hasn’t been cut yet or is about to be. The math supports that.
Gronowski, who was waived in early August and re-signed a week later, had the best drives of any Dolphins backup this preseason Friday night, finishing 4 of 8 for 97 yards against the Falcons. That is a nice preseason line and not a resume for backing up a starter who has never played a full season.
Miller, a 2025 sixth-round pick, went 3 of 11 with two interceptions in the opener. The Dolphins hold a favorable waiver position after a 7-10 season, and every team in the league has to be at 53 by 6 p.m. Sunday, which means the veteran backups get cut loose in the same window Miami is shopping.
Claims process Monday. The Dolphins open at Las Vegas on Sept. 13, and the question the Ewers trade answers — that the front office did not believe in him — is smaller than the one it opens: Who is standing behind Willis when the season starts.
