Polarizing QB Diego Pavia makes unfortunate NFL Draft history

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy after leading the Hoosiers to an unprecedented 16-0 season and winning the first national championship in program history.

The Las Vegas Raiders made Mendoza the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night.

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia won the 2025 SEC Offensive Player of the Year after leading the SEC in passing touchdowns (29), completion percentage (70.6%), and passing efficiency rating (170.4).

Pavia was the Heisman runner-up — albeit a distant second to Mendoza — but did not hear his name called through all seven rounds of the draft.

Pavia became the first Heisman finalist to go undrafted since 2014.

Along with Mendoza and Pavia, Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin were Heisman finalists last December. The Arizona Cardinals drafted Love at No. 3 overall on Thursday night, and Sayin is returning to Ohio State for next season.

Unlike his controversial reaction to losing the Heisman to Mendoza, for which he later apologized, Pavia has not commented on going undrafted. As of this writing, he has not signed with an NFL team as an undrafted free agent.

Ahead of the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh rounds, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero analyzed Pavia’s NFL hopes on Saturday morning:

Pelissero noted Pavia “does not have NFL size” at 5-foot-10, but it’s more about “the broader picture” with the polarizing Vandy QB, as excerpted below:

“If you’re gonna take a quarterback late, and Pavia is gonna be right on that border of potentially being a late-round pick or being a priority free agent, you have to think about the dynamics in a room where he’s not walking in as QB1. I talked to coaches and executives who said they asked him that: ‘What would it be like, for the first time in your life, if you’re coming in as a backup quarterback?’ Pavia’s answer was basically like, ‘I’m not coming in as a backup quarterback. I’m coming to take somebody’s job.’

You like that answer. You like the guts on that guy, the charisma that he brings to the table. There’s other things — the larger-than-life personality. [You] have to get comfortable with the idea of Diego Pavia being a backup quarterback. In his mind, he’s a starter. He’s gonna be an NFL starter.”

As Pelissero alluded to, Pavia consistently made waves with, shall we say, his colorful quotes during his two-year stint as Vanderbilt’s starting quarterback.

More recently, he raised eyebrows by telling Jon Gruden that he didn’t want an agent because “I didn’t think it was fair that someone was gonna represent me and take 5-to-10% — ain’t nobody taking my money.”

Chase Daniel has been in Pavia’s shoes. Daniel was a Heisman finalist in 2007, finishing fourth, and went undrafted out of Missouri in the 2009 NFL Draft. He posted an encouraging message to all undrafted players on Saturday evening.

“To all the undrafted guys, I didn’t hear my name called either, and it ended up being the BEST thing that ever happened to me,” Daniel wrote, in part. “I played 14 years & got a Super Bowl ring. It all started with that moment. It forced a level of urgency, humility, and edge that never left.”

It’ll be interesting to see where Pavia lands, as Pavia has a way of making everything interesting.

Get to know Pavia, in case your favorite team signs him, by watching his 2026 NFL Combine presser below.