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6 Big Ten QBs, not Billy Edwards, listed among highest paid in college football

The Wisconsin Badgers will face some highly paid quarterbacks in the Big Ten this season, and a new report indicates Billy Edwards Jr. won't be making as much as his conference counterparts.
Lorin Cox|
Jul 23, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Wisconsin quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. speaks to the media during the Big Ten college football media days at Mandalay Bay Resort.
Jul 23, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Wisconsin quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. speaks to the media during the Big Ten college football media days at Mandalay Bay Resort. | Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

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The Big Ten has some highly paid quarterbacks for this upcoming season. According to one report, Billy Edwards Jr. isn't among them.

Pete Nakos from On3 reported a list of the highest-paid QBs in college football, which featured six different passers from the Big Ten making more than $1 million.

The Wisconsin Badgers transfer portal addition didn't make the list.

That could mean Nakos was unable to confirm what Edwards will be making this season, but he successfully identified the cash flow for 24 other quarterbacks around the country, so it would be surprising if he somehow missed out on the Badgers' QB.

Every player on his list is making at least $1 million, so it would stand to reason that if Edwards didn't make the list, he might not be making seven figures this season. The list includes "the compensation that players will receive from the school and/or NIL collective, excluding incentives."

Nakos had previously reported that Edwards will be Wisconsin's highest-paid player this season in NIL money, but he didn't list a specific amount.

Three of the Big Ten quarterbacks the Badgers face this season will make more than $1 million, led by Michigan true freshman Bryce Underwood at $3 million. Ohio State's Julian Sayin is at $1.5 million.

For comparison, former Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz will make just over $1 million this season in the first year of his rookie contract with the Houston Texans.

Evidently, the Badgers didn't have to spend as much as their Big Ten rivals to land their new starting quarterback in the transfer portal.

NIL money hasn't been a sticking point in the Wisconsin locker room, and the players say they're 100 percent focused on football and not how much the guy next to them is making.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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