Diego Pavia fumbled the bag before NFL Draft, but it was avoidable

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia has officially gone undrafted. To make matters worse, three hours post draft, Pavia had not signed an undrafted free agent contract.

While that might not seem condemning, twelve quarterbacks not named Pavia have inked UFA deals. Some are names many expected to see drafted, some were significantly behind Pavia, according to several draft analysts. 

Georgia Tech's Haynes King, Louisville's Miller Moss, Illinois's Luke Altmyer, Virginia Tech's Kyron Drones and others. None of those names were expected to be drafted or acquired ahead of Pavia when the draft process began. 

The issue facing Pavia currently is not that he went undrafted. The primary concern is why isn't he being contacted now? Draft picks are currency. Drafting a player within the seven rounds suggests a monetary investment in a prospect. In any other scenario, teams would be jumping at the chance to sign a QB with a 70 percent completion percentage, 4,300 yards from scrimmage and 39 combined touchdowns for only a couple of hundred thousand dollars. 

Playing the villain was a poor choice. Somewhere along the way, Pavia decided to embrace the villain role. Perhaps it was suggested to inflate his profile, perhaps it was his own doing when the football world did not see him the way he does. There is an arrogant bravado that he's pushed since 2024. 

Once it became clear that NFL front offices did not see him as a first-round caliber player, he began making mistakes other players had made. Pavia is part of a big three that should come to mind when you see, "speaking greatness into existence". This is a growing issue. Pavia, Shedeur Sanders and Angel Reese have all suffered from this wild new tactic.  

Proclaiming what they believe they were as if saying it will make it so. Shedeur Sanders experienced the largest draft slide in recent memory in part because of how he spoke of himself. The "Legendary" thing still bothers some people. Angel Reese is still making outlandish comments about how great she is long before such claims will be well received. 

 All three have significant fan bases that began in college or even before that. Shedeur and Angel's fan bases are larger and more outspoken. However, in each case, fan bases talking up their favorite player does not allow professional teams to do anything. Taking a draft stock or greatness into existence is a failed strategy.

The Heisman issue began before the trophy presentation ceremony. Like the above section, Pavia attempted to force his way into a Heisman conversation. The reason we often remember college football players fondly for making the Heisman pose in a game, is usually because they were already in that conversation before they did it. Pavia was not, so striking the pose felt forced. As if he felt he had to in order to remain relevant. 

Fast-forward to the trophy presentation. When Pavia did not win the award, and wasn't going to, as he was going up against Fernando Mendoza. Pavia did exactly what he shouldn't have. Went on a profane rant criticizing and blaming the Heisman voters. Never a good look. 

A quarterback draft prospect not throwing at the Combine or declining all-star game invites is not unheard of. We see it every single year. Those that don't participate usually choose that route because they are projected within a certain range and would rather throw to players they are familiar with. Pavia got a Combine invite and did participate. It just wasn't good. 

Pavia did not perform well at the Combine despite social media narratives. At the Senior Bowl, he had a good practice but an awful game. Declined the East/West Shrine game. When he threw, it was underwhelming at best. Accuracy was off and in the Senior Bowl he almost had to leave the pocket to see over the offensive lineman. We should have heard about him trying to work out for as many teams and scouts as humanly possible given his performance. 

This is just lazy. Sure, pile on Diego Pavia if you feel the need.

But, get your facts right. He did not have an agent in college to handle NIL

He DOES have, and has had, an NFL agent (Malki Kawa). https://t.co/Y7NZGxI3LE

There is a cautionary tale that is only a year old. Pavia is making every mistake Shedeur Sanders made last year, and then some. Shedeur was confident, but he wasn't arrogant. Shedeur did not hire an agent, due in large part to who his father is. Deion Sanders at least has relationships with teams and could steer some of this for Shedeur. 

Pavia doesn't have a father with a gold jacket he didn't buy to lean on. When the pre-draft process began to spiral, there was no NFL Hall of Famer to try and smooth over the situation. There was also the fallout and reaction from the Sanders family that Pavia has not yet shown.

When Shedeur kept falling, Coach Prime and Bucky Sanders put out videos on Well Off Media showing contrition, showing that they understood the situation. Even with Coach Prime famously looking into the camera and saying, "Enough is enough. Lord, put me on the cross. Please take my sons off."  Unlike Sanders, Pavia has yet to take any responsibility for this eventuality. To almost make matters worse, Deion "Bucky" Sanders Jr recently tweeted the following, which likely won't help the situation.