Diego Pavia went from Heisman finalist to undrafted to waived by the Ravens in a matter of months. Another opportunity gone. But Pavia is not blaming bad luck. He believes human intervention, not fate, is behind his struggles. Now he is pointing at something else, and the question is who he is pointing at.
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The former Vanderbilt quarterback recently found himself in the spotlight during a Snapchat Q&A when a fan questioned whether he was surprised to go undrafted despite being a Heisman finalist. Pavia’s response, however, took a political turn, adding an unexpected twist to an already frustrating chapter of his football journey.
“Politics, my boi. This is literally what scouts tell me,” Pavia wrote on Snapchat.
Quite a take from the Heisman finalist, but Diego Pavia has every reason to believe in himself after the season he delivered at Vanderbilt. The quarterback was instrumental in the Commodores’ impressive 10-3 campaign, throwing for 3,539 yards and 29 touchdowns while adding 862 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
He led the SEC, completing 70.6% of his passes, establishing himself as one of college football’s most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks. Pavia’s name remained firmly in the Heisman conversation until Fernando Mendoza ultimately claimed the trophy, leaving the Vanderbilt star as the runner-up in the voting.
To cap off his remarkable campaign, Pavia was named SEC Offensive Player of the Year, further cementing his status as one of the nation’s standout quarterbacks. However, despite these accolades, he went undrafted, becoming the first Heisman finalist to go undrafted since Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch in 2014.
It was a stunning blow for both the college football world and Diego Pavia himself after he went undrafted.
Diego Pavia finally secured an opportunity with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent. However, his NFL dream hit another roadblock when the Ravens waived him on July 23, just days before training camp began.
Since then, he has tried everything to resurrect his career, from chasing another shot at the NFL to stepping into the WWE spotlight with a guest appearance. Yet, nothing seems to be going his way. Now, the bigger question is whether being a Heisman finalist actually guarantees NFL success, or whether politics played a role in holding him back. His achievements tell one story, but the numbers might tell another.
The struggle to make it in the NFL has been even more pronounced among Heisman runners-up. Quarterbacks Josh Heupel (2000), Brad Banks (2002) and Max Duggan (2022), along with running back Bryce Love (2017), never played a single game in the NFL.
Meanwhile, 2013 runner-up A.J. McCarron managed to carve out a nine-year professional career as a backup after being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. However, his impact remained limited, with just 19 NFL appearances.
Pavia’s undrafted status may have stemmed from more than just his on-field performance. Standing at 5-foot-10, he fell short of the ideal height many NFL teams seek in a quarterback. His outspoken personality may have raised further concerns.
Former Arizona Cardinals player Tyrann Mathieu back in April also weighed in on Diego Pavia, suggesting that the quarterback was more focused on becoming a celebrity than establishing himself as a football player.
“He’s just a little bit sidetracked,” Mathieu. “He’s been on too many podcasts for me. Too many UFC fights, too many drunk photos. That’s not what people want to see at the next level.”
There are several reasons why scouts did not consider him an NFL-ready prospect. As for where he goes from here, that remains to be seen.