MIAMI GARDENS — Miami Dolphins rookie Quinn Ewers, the seventh-round pick from Texas, won’t be the No. 2 quarterback on the depth chart behind starter Tua Tagovailoa when Miami takes the field for the Sept. 7 season opener at Indianapolis.

The No. 2 job belongs to veteran Zach Wilson, the No. 2 pick of the 2021 draft who has 33 career starts. Wilson, who was selected by the New York Jets but flamed out during his three seasons there, has been the better backup quarterback throughout the offseason program, including the first seven practices of training camp.

“Zach is the backup quarterback,” coach Mike McDaniel said before Wednesday’s practice, “and it’s up to players to adjust that.”

End of discussion. For now. 

Make no mistake, Ewers has been good. Last Friday, he was better than Wilson, who wasn’t my first choice for Dolphins backup quarterback.

Ewers was the star of the day last Friday. No doubt.

We saw some of that excellence carry over to Wednesday’s practice.

Late in the practice, Ewers dropped back confidently and delivered a crisply-thrown 15-yard dart to wide receiver Theo Wease Jr., who was tightly covered by safety Jordan Colbert.

It was a thing of beauty between Ewers and Wease, the player who seems to be his most reliable target.

This wasn’t an exception. Ewers makes these types of throws frequently.

Despite that, Ewers, who battled injuries at Texas while holding off the people’s choice — backup quarterback Arch Manning — isn’t looking too far ahead or being unrealistic. He knows the depth chart. McDaniel has been crystal clear on that front.

“There’s no such thing as non-competition, and I think Quinn is the type of person that is every day trying to make that a real competition,’ McDaniel said.

“Right now it’s not like that in my mind. But I’m very candid about being open to anything that the players tell me with actions, not words.”

Accordingly, Ewers stays in his lane.

“Right now, I just want to lead my group,” he said, “and my group right now is the threes, and then those young guys.”

I like Ewers. I think he has potential.

One thing that I watch at this time of year is how coaches talk to players after the play, or whether coaches care enough to talk to players after a play. You see positive things with Ewers from that standpoint. Coaches aren’t yelling at Ewers. They’re not scolding him and gesturing wildly as though Ewers can’t do anything right. Instead, coaches are gently correcting or congratulating Ewers. They seem much more positive than negative.

“I think it’s been good,” Ewers said of the way coaches are talking to him. “I think they do a great job on coaching how they want to coach. And the quarterback position is hard because I feel like all quarterbacks have big egos and whatnot. So they try not to damage it, I guess.

“But no, I mean, I’m cool with how they’re coaching. I like it for sure.”

The kid has done well.

But let’s be clear: Wilson has been better. Wilson has a stronger arm, Wilson has made better reads, Wilson has made better throws. 

And it’d be hugely embarrassing for Ewers to overtake Wilson on the depth chart.

Wilson, you’ll recall, is the man McDaniel hand-picked to be Tua’s backup. At the NFL meetings in Palm Beach in late March, McDaniel called Wilson the “best option” for the Dolphins.

“He was a direct, calculated target,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel also pointed out he thinks he and the Dolphins’ coaching staff can restore Wilson’s confidence in the same fashion they did for Tagovailoa.

“Not comparing the players at all,” McDaniel said in March, “Tua found that this environment helped him through that process.”

McDaniel is banking on doing the same for Wilson.

One thing Ewers has almost certainly done with his performance is earn a spot on the 53-man regular-season roster. There’s no way the Dolphins get rid of him, and there’s no way they’d put him on the practice squad and risk him being poached by another team.

After all, the Dolphins have gone down to their No. 3 quarterback a few times in the Tua-McDaniel era, and it could happen again this year.

If so, Ewers will be the man who gets tapped on the shoulder. But McDaniel made it clear Wednesday that if the Dolphins must go to their No. 2 quarterback this year, Wilson, not Ewers, is the man for the job.

Originally Published: July 30, 2025 at 1:39 PM EDT