Diego Pavia may not have what it takes to last on a 53 man NFL roster. But no one can argue his ability to become a headline maker. Throughout his last season with Vanderbilt, and all the way up till the Heisman ceremony and the Draft, Pavia dominated the news cycle. There were less pieces on Fernando Mendoza who was the better quarterback. Drama sells, and Pavia is now pivoting to capitalise on it.

As elitecollegefootball posted, Diego Pavia appears to be leaning harder into Snapchat as an influencer. Relatively new to the platform, he has about 4,000 followers as of now. But he has been posting regularly and testing out the sort of content that has little to do with running an offense. 

One post asked his followers whether he should start streaming. Another floated the idea of streaming Lobo-Aggie. Then came a more unexpected tease where he posted, “might do something WWE.” That is Diego Pavia. Even when football gets complicated, he’s not short of something to say.

The Blueprint

Football stars turning their personalities into media gold is nothing new. The most famous example of a man who is making even more money running his mouth than he ever did running on the field is Shannon Sharpe.

But the Hall of Fame Tight End did have an illustrious career, which helps back up a lot of his personality on camera.

Not everyone needs Super Bowl rings to succeed in that avenue though. Pat McAfee built a raw and honest YouTube show that completely disrupted sports broadcasting. Since he owned his brand, he dictated his own terms, eventually securing a massive multi-million dollar licensing deal with ESPN.

There are podcast avenues too. The Kelce brothers and the Downs brothers are engaged in them with some level of success. But truly speaking, there is only one man who should be Diego Pavia’s north star.

Pavia’s North Star

A lot of people would think Diego needs to emulate Johnny Manziel. On the outset it would make sense. A larger than life personality who rarely cared about what other people told him, and whose ego led to his downfall in the pros.

But Manziel actually won the Heisman. Furthermore, his failures did not stem from a lack of ability or his ego being bruised by not being good enough. Manziel always thought he was the best and was simply a party animal who couldn’t stop His suffering from addiction and other mental issues was the core issue. In another life, Manziel would have had the career of Baker Mayfield. Pavia simply lacks the talent.

The true north star for Pavia is actually Ryan Leaf. Both players achieved success by carrying chip-on-the-shoulder mentalities. However, that intensity has often turned combative. Just as Ryan Leaf famously melted down at reporters, Pavia has drawn heavy fire for public emotional outbursts of his own.

But Leaf’s redemption story involves a core human element that Pavia is missing. That is humility. These days, Ryan is a more or less humble person who is okay with his brand being that of a cautionary tale. Pavia needs to understand that failure to reach the NFL is now part of his story. He cannot run away from it.

Pavia Has The Numbers

Diego Pavia already has people following him. He has around 111,000 on Instagram and another 21,500 on X. Snapchat is a different game, but there’s money in it if he can get people to stick around. The platform had 946 million monthly users worldwide by the end of 2025, a 6% jump from the year before. The company also paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to creators during the year. Its monetization program allows eligible creators to earn from advertising placed alongside their content.

The ceiling can be surprisingly high. Creator Josh Horton has said he regularly makes at least $200 a day on Snapchat, with some days topping $1,000. Lifestyle creator Abby Berner reportedly pulled in more than $500,000 from Snapchat in 2025.

Diego Pavia isn’t there yet. But he has people watching him, and that’s a big deal. Making real money from that crowd won’t happen overnight, and Snapchat has its own hoops creators have to clear first. Still, the former QB has an audience waiting for him.

There is also a precedent in the football world. Donald De La Haye, better known online as Deestroying, turned his college-kicking background into a huge digital career through football challenges, trick shots, collaborations, and personality-driven videos. His online success eventually helped reopen doors to professional football. Diego Pavia could take a similar path. He could stream games and events, talk football, bring former teammates into videos, show the less polished side of life after college football, or just be himself. 

The NFL opportunity may have disappeared for now. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the audience has. And if Diego Pavia can turn that audience into a business, getting cut could eventually grant him the beginning of something much bigger.