Name Image Likeness

NFL Rookie Quarterback Strikes Lucrative Deal After Missing Out on NIL Payday

This Miami Dolphins rookie left college football and a large NIL payout behind to enter the NFL draft, and he's recouping those losses.

Maddy Hudak

Tim Heitman-Imagn Images
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College football has reached a bizarre state of the sport where, for quarterbacks in particular, the NFL offers less of a payout than staying in school if they don't get selected in the first round.

This offseason, star quarterbacks Darian Mensah and Carson Beck reportedly received around $3–4 million to transfer to the Duke Blue Devils and Miami Hurricanes, respectively.

The Hurricanes were considered a prime landing spot for former Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers, and he was said to have turned down a $4 million deal when he elected to enter the NFL draft.

Criticism of that decision skyrocketed when Ewers fell to the seventh round, where he was eventually selected No. 231 overall by the Miami Dolphins.

It seems Ewers has found a way to compensate for those lost earnings in an endorsement deal, though.

Dolphins Rookie Quinn Ewers Inks Million-Dollar Endorsement Deal

On Friday, Ewers announced that he signed an exclusive autograph trading card deal with Panini, which Mike Florio of NBC Sports reports is worth $3 million.

That bottom line all but adds up to Ewers' four-year contract with Miami, one that will pay out a total of $4.3 million over four years.

Ewers' Year 1 salary with Miami is $84,000, with an additional prorated amount of $32,894 from his $131,576 signing bonus—ultimately not too bad for a seventh-round pick.

When Ewers continued to slide through Day 3 of the NFL draft, the consensus seemed to believe he greatly erred by not sticking in college.

In the absence of his deal with Panini, his earnings certainly took a massive hit.

However, critics seemed to forget about the viability of endorsement deals, as the power of name, image, and likeness doesn't dissipate when a player leaves college for the NFL.

Ewers may have garnered additional partnerships on top of his reported $4 million had he gone to the Hurricanes. He also may have taken a poor snap that ended his NFL hopes entirely.

That $4 million would be enough on its own of career earnings that few outside of college athletes will ever come close to at 22 years old.

Ewers is in the NFL, the real dream for most, and he's almost made back what he lost by deciding to do so.

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Maddy Hudak
MADDY HUDAK

Maddy Hudak is the deputy editor for Tulane on Sports Illustrated and the radio sideline reporter for their football team. Maddy is an alumnus of Tulane University, and graduated in 2016 with a degree in psychology. She went on to obtain a Master of Legal Studies while working as a research coordinator at the VA Hospital, and in jury consulting. During this time, Maddy began covering the New Orleans Saints with SB Nation, and USA Today. She moved to New Orleans in 2021 to pursue a career in sports and became Tulane's sideline reporter that season. She enters her fourth year with the team now covering the program on Sports Illustrated, and will use insights from features and interviews in the live radio broadcast. You can follow her on X at @MaddyHudak_94, or if you have any questions or comments, she can be reached via email at maddy.hudak1@gmail.com

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