Total Pro Sports
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia is making waves in more ways than one.
Late last year, it was announced that Pavia was granted an extra season by a Tennessee court after he sued the NCAA. That decision is certainly working well for his pockets.
Pavia, whose mother gained more attention in the stands than he did in 2024, is making millions while in college.
Pavia and Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders have something in common. They both get paid to play football, one for college and one in the NFL. However, things change drastically when start talking about who makes the most money.
Sanders is an NFL quarterback now and is paid professionally for his services, but his deal is nothing like what Pavia is currently bringing in for the smallest team in the Southeastern Conference.
According to Pete Nakos of On3 Sports, Pavia is set to earn upwards of $2 million with the Commodores during the 2025 season.
NEW: Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia is set to make north of $2M this season, @PeteNakos_ reports⚓️https://t.co/qkO15K1gDn https://t.co/28xn5abNOw pic.twitter.com/2qAInYRib1
— On3 (@On3sports) August 21, 2025
Sanders signed a four-year rookie contract with the Cleveland Browns worth approximately $4.6 million, including a $447,380 signing bonus. However, the Browns are set to pay him just under $1.3 million in 2025.
Shedeur Sanders made quite a ton of cash in college, even signing an NIL deal with Nike.
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia is a quarterback many programs would love to have.
While at New Mexico State, Pavia said he was paid $1,400 per month in NIL deals. That number grew quickly after a successful season with the Aggies in 2023.
Following a successful year at Vanderbilt, Pavia said many schools reached out about transferring, with one of them opening up their bank account to make it happen.
Pavia revealed to The Tennessean that he had offers ranging from $4 to $4.5 million to play for other schools, including at least one in the SEC.
He never let the money stop his goal, saying he wanted to stay at Vanderbilt for other reasons.
“The offers were great, but winning is more important to me than anything,” Pavia said.
“You’ve got (assistant) coach (Jerry) Kill and coach (offensive coordinator Tim) Beck relying on you to come back. It’s all a money game. You’ve got other schools offering you $4 million, and (Vanderbilt) doesn’t want to pay you $4 million, but (Vanderbilt) took a chance on me, so I understand that.”
Diego Pavia stated that Vanderbilt approached him with the same offer, but added that they would rather spend that money on new players from the transfer portal, which he understood.
“They told me they could pay me ($4 million), but we wouldn’t have enough money to go get these guys. And it just made sense to me. I value winning over anything else.”
