It’s interesting how narratives shift, isn’t it? When the college football world was going gaga over hot prospects like Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward flying off to the NFL, someone missed the hype train. Quinn Ewers! Once considered a potential first-round NFL Draft selection, the former Texas Longhorns quarterback ultimately waited until the seventh round, becoming the 231st overall pick. He landed a sweet $4.33 million deal as a pro. But get this—it also meant saying bye-bye to some seriously big NIL money that colleges were apparently throwing his way. Looking back at how things played out, Ewers has been chatting about his NIL journey, maybe just to give the next guys a heads-up.

The 2024 season has been a rocky ride for Ewers. Plagued with injuries, his season did not go quite as planned. Yet, the 22-year-old managed to rack up 3,472 yards, 31 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. So, that’s when analysts predicted that he’d stick around for one more year to cap off his college football journey. Even Dan Patrick came with a reality check. “Why would you go to the pros? You can make $6 million playing.” But no, Ewers chose to be in the pros. And guess what?

He is happy with his choice. “The way that it’s kind of been set up for me has been nothing short of unconventional, I think I would say. … It’s nothing short of special.” 

Last winter, tons of big-name schools—the real bluebloods like Miami and Notre Dame—would’ve been all over Ewers if he’d hit the transfer portal looking for a quarterback. But instead of going that route, he stuck it out to earn his ‘PRO’ badge. Remember, this was a QB with serious hype way back—like, top-dog 5-star recruit from the 2021 class out of Southlake Carroll. Ewers’s first stop in college football was at Ohio State, where he stayed for nearly a year and then swapped wagons to Steve Sarkisian’s Texas. In the three years that followed, Ewers became one of the biggest names in college football and left Austin with a $4.5 million On3 NIL Valuation, which ranked as one of the highest in college athletics at the time. But what makes his journey special?

“For me, I go in and lose one game on the road my entire career, go 11-1 on the road. Win a Big 12 title game, go to the College Football Playoff two years in a row and win a Peach Bowl, win multiple Playoff games. It’s nothing short of special,” Ewers told On3. Now, is he going to miss out on NIL as he now dons the NFL badge? No way. Thanks to Panini America, the exclusive trading card partner of the NFL. Ewers had signed a deal with the brand back in July 2023. That partnership will now continue into the NFL. So, what’s the lesson the quarterback gave to the ones who are going to follow in his footsteps? 

Juggling deals with companies like Dr Pepper and Beats by Dre while crushing it on the field taught Ewers a thing or two about balancing NIL and football, which is the same advice he’s passing on to the young chaps. “I think the biggest lesson that I like to tell people and kind of how I feel is, if you keep the main thing the main thing, everything else will really fall in line. Because as soon as you lose what you do to earn the NIL, you lose all the NIL. You just continue to play football and remain present and remain focused on the objective – which isn’t NIL, by the way – that’ll come with the success that you have.” While Ewers glorifies the journey, what about the loss? 

The $8 million fork in Quinn Ewers’ road 

A report went viral in the month of January this year. As per 247Sports Chip Brown, Ewers was reportedly offered an $8 million NIL deal to transfer to another school, making the most use of his final year of eligibility. However, the quarterback did not think twice before turning down the offer. Now he slipped to the 7th round, signing a rookie deal with the Dolphins. It’s just a fraction of the whole picture.

While his 4-year contract amounts to $4.33 million, Quinn Ewers is only guaranteed $131,576, his signing bonus. His base salary for the upcoming year is $840,000, and he’ll carry a salary cap hit of $872,894 for the team. Now, do you need your calculators?

Nah. That’s how Ewers made a hefty amount of $7.2 million just slip away. Just when the quarterback turned into a laughingstock by not thinking about his fortune, Sarkisian took a stand. After all, it makes him proud to boast about Ewers, who, at the end of the day, chose his passion over money.

Sarkisian said, “Everybody has got a comment about a kid who leaves a school and goes to another school for more money…Sometimes, I just wonder. Who are we to judge and criticize a young man who’s making a decision on his future, who’s only done things the right way, to the best of his ability, gave everything to our program?”

Now think about Quinn Ewers’ competitor, Carson Beck. Even the former Georgia quarterback thought of making it to the pro league. Ultimately, though, he made a U-turn, ditching his old nest to hop onto the Miami Hurricanes’ wagon. And this swap brought in some cash flow. Mario Cristobal reportedly offered him an NIL offer somewhere in the $3-$4 million range. Could staying in college have boosted Ewers’ draft stock and his bank account?