Less than a week after he was surprisingly not selected during the 2026 NFL Draft, former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia has agreed to a three-year contract with the Baltimore Ravens.
The news comes a day after Pavia, 24, was invited to attend the Ravens’ rookie minicamp alongside former UConn quarterback Joe Fagnano. Baltimore also gave Fagnano, 25, a three-year deal, hoping the two would enter camp on equal footing, according to ESPN.
Undrafted free agent contracts are worth at least the league minimum over three years. For 2026, that means Pavia and Fagnano will at the very least make $885,000 — if not more. It’s not a bad payday, but for Pavia, it’s a significant drop from what he made in name, image and likeness deals at Vanderbilt last year — $2.5 million, according to Yahoo Sports.
He and Fagnano will compete to play behind Ravens starting quarterback Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley.
Over the weekend, Pavia became the first Heisman Trophy finalist to go undrafted since 2014 despite averaging 334.8 total yards per game last year — the second best mark in the FBS. Vanderbilt also went 10-3, cutting it short of the College Football Playoff.
Amid the disappointment of not being drafted, Pavia had one NFL legend in his corner. University of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders posted an encouraging message to the young athlete via X after the last draft pick was called.
“@diegopavia02 I BELIEVE IN YOU MY MAN!,” he wrote on Saturday, April 25. “Stay strong and don’t let up. Show them what time it is and never allow them to forget. Much Love & God bless you.”
While Pavia’s small stature arguably didn’t help his draft prospects, draft experts speculated that his stock may have been hurt by his numerous off-field controversies. Asked at the NFL Draft Combine if teams had mentioned his social media posts, Pavia told reporters they had not.
“I just think, not that they don’t care or whatever, but they kind of know the situation already,” he said.
Pavia continued, “One thing about me is I don’t care what people think about me. God has a plan for me regardless. But the way the media is, they’re supposed to put out clickbait and things like that. That’s how people get views, and that’s how people make money. I understand that. And so people will twist a story and try to put out bad media to get clicks, good media to get clicks. That’s just today’s world that we live in. So I’m just adjusting to the new world.”
The Ravens’ rookie minicamp is scheduled to begin on Friday, May 1.
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