Over a struggling season, Tagovailoa played himself out of a job, missing reads, holding the ball and leading the NFL with 15 interceptions. One of McDaniel’s biggest messages has been conviction over perfection. In other words, aggressively take what the defense gives you, even if it isn’t perfect. If guys are open, be decisive and hit them.
That’s what he believes he’ll see with Ewers. McDaniel feels that with the way the offense needs to function, Ewers is the best option, and this week was the first time he definitively felt that.
For Ewers, this opportunity comes after a tumultuous draft process left a player most thought would be a second- or third-rounder available late into the draft.
Ewers was beat up in his final year at Texas, battling several injuries, and that hurt his stock.
And many of the teams picking QBs on Day 2 of the draft simply liked other signal-callers better — the Saints took Tyler Shough in the second round; the Seahawks took Jalen Milroe in the third. By the time the final day of the draft rolled around, teams shied away from a high-profile college QB as their developmental late-rounder. NIL made college QBs even bigger stars than they were, and Ewers was in national commercials. Not everyone wants that for a reserve.
Finally, as the sixth round turned into the seventh, agent Ron Slavin was communicating with Dolphins co-director of player personnel Adam Engroff, who strenuously pointed out that Ewers was the highest player on their board by far and was a great system fit. Eventually, the Dolphins took the leap and selected Ewers, which Engroff communicated to Slavin in a text. That led to pandemonium at the Ewers watch party.
On Sunday, it all culminates on the field.