This past weekend the Jacksonville Jaguars made a splash in their quarterback room with an in-state trade as the Miami Dolphins traded second-year quarterback Quinn Ewers to the Jaguars in exchange for a 2028 sixth-round draft pick, reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Ewers has officially made the 53-man roster after final cuts, while Nick Mullens and rookie QB Joey Aguilar were released during cut-down day. Mullens, however, signed with the practice squad while former South Alabama quarterback and Jacksonville native Carter Bradley was waived after being injured (thumb) in the Jaguars’ final preseason game.
The former Texas Longhorn star is set to be QB2 behind Trevor Lawrence this season. In 2025, Ewers threw for 622 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 interceptions and a 32.8 QBR during his rookie NFL season with the Miami Dolphins.
Over the final three weeks of the season (weeks 16-18), Quinn Ewers ranked 14th in completion rate and 13th in yards per pass attempt. However, he was also tied for 11th in turnover-worthy play rate and ninth in pressure-to-sack rate, according to PFF.
Coen and Gladstone explain the move
Why did head coach Liam Coen and general manager James Gladstone trade for the 23-year-old quarterback ultimately?
Coen: “Just wanted to continue to create the competition in the room and I thought watching some of the stuff he did last year when he got some ops to go play, I thought he showed some signs, being able to spread the ball around to different spots on the field. (He) has some arm talent. I liked him coming out of Texas. I think Sark (Steve Sarkisian) does a really good job with the quarterbacks. He’s a young player that you can kind of pour into and see what that looks like as we can go.”
“It didn’t take long to reach an agreement,” Gladstone said, via Jaguars on SI. “Ultimately, between myself and Liam pouring into some of the games Quinn had in his rookie campaign, felt good enough about the upward trajectory and really what he showcased over the course of those performances, and trying to tap into that and continue to work with him and build with him into the future.”
While there is upside with Quinn, Trevor Lawrence will be the man in charge of the Jaguars’ offense, leading them as signal caller for the sixth season in a row. Lawrence is coming off the best season of his career, leading Jacksonville to the playoffs while throwing for 4,007 yards and a career-high 29 passing touchdowns.
Ewers will be valuable to the Jaguars if Trevor goes down at any point this season. He fits well in this quick-read offense and has weapons all over the field in Parker Washington, Travis Hunter, Brian Thomas Jr., Bhayshul Tuten, Brenton Strange and Jakobi Meyers. With his upside and light experience last year, Ewers gives Coen and the team great optimism on the depth chart.
The Jacksonville Jaguars will open the season hosting the Cleveland Browns at EverBank Stadium for their Week 1 regular-season opener on Sunday, September 13th at 1 p.m. E.T. on CBS.
