CFB insider urges Quinn Ewers to take a leaf out of Jayden Daniels & Bo Nix's playbook to change NFL scouts opinion

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers is one of the most scrutinized players in college football due to the presence of Arch Manning as his backup for the Longhorns. Ewers has largely performed admirably during the College Football Playoff and will lead the Longhorns in an epic semifinal clash against the high-flying Ohio State Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl Classic on Friday.

During Wednesday's segment of an On3 podcast, analyst J.D. Pickell, who broke the news of Ewers being the subject of a $6 million offer to enter the transfer portal from an unnamed school, further advised the Texas quarterback on his future, urging him to take a leaf out of Bo Nix and Jayden Daniel's playbook.

"Jayden Daniels was 23-24 years old, Bo Nix has somewhere North of 40 starts," Pickell said (3:15). "That helps these guys have success in the NFL. Even if Quinn Ewers doesn't have a better draft stock after next season, does he not help himself have a longer NFL career?

"The money is a nice cherry on top but if I'm being told, I need more time, to get ready to prep for what my job is supposed to be, I'll do that," Pickell said. "Because it's much better to wait a year and then to have a long NFL career than to jump in right now and flame out in three years because 'Man I didn't wanna transfer somewhere and start over.'"

Bo Nix transferred from Auburn and joined Oregon in 2022 and decided to stay an extra year in college football instead of declaring for the 2023 NFL draft. He was one of the oldest quarterbacks (24) in the 2024 draft when he was picked No. 12 overall by the Denver Broncos.

Jayden Daniels also entered the transfer portal in 2022 from the Arizona State Sun Devils to the LSU Tigers instead of entering the 2023 NFL draft. He won the Heisman Trophy before being picked No. 2 overall in the 2024 draft.

Both Nix and Daniels exceeded draft expectations by staying in college football instead of immediately declaring for the NFL draft, a pivotal decision that Quinn Ewers is now facing.

Quinn Ewers not getting favorable draft feedback

During Monday's segment of the "Rich Eisen Show," Rich Eisen revealed that Quinn Ewers, who is set to face his former team in the Cotton Bowl Classic, had not been receiving favorable draft feedback from NFL evaluators who advised the Texas quarterback to return to college football for an extra year.

"Playing out behind the scenes is the NFL draft," Eisen said (5:25). "And playing out behind those scenes is a conversation I'm hearing is that a lot of NFL evaluators are telling Quinn Ewers, stay in college.

"And as we all know, if he stays in college for another year, it's not gonna be at Texas 'cause that's Arch Manning's gig next year and that's all playing out behind the scenes."

On the same show, The Athletic's draft expert, Bruce Feldman, reiterated his belief that Quinn Ewers would enter the transfer portal from Texas rather than declare for the 2025 NFL draft.

"My guess is he will be in the portal," Feldman said (6:17). "He's in a similar situation to Cam Ward and some other guys where the NFL doesn't look at him as a top 50 pick. They look at him as maybe third, fourth-round quarterback.

"The concerns you hear from scouts and definitely SEC coaches who respect him and think he has good arm talent and think he's a really good college football quarterback is when he has to ad-lib and improvise is when the mistakes really happen."

The decision on his career by Quinn Ewers will be one of the most anticipated this year, as all eyes will be on whether the Longhorns quarterback decides to stay in college football and enter the transfer portal or brave the NFL draft despite the negative feedback from evaluators.