Out of all QBs in the Power 4, nobody ought to have a higher ceiling than Garrett Nussmeier heading into the 2025 season. In his very first season as a starter, in his junior year (2024), Nussmeier threw almost 30 touchdowns and led the SEC in yards, making the former LSU Tigers QB the clear-cut favorite for the Heisman last season in the preseason. However, a little trial and tribulation here and there had him go as the very last QB in the draft.

When Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs decided to roll the dice on Garrett Nussmeier with their 249th pick, the old-school gunslinger couldn’t stop his tears. Surrounded by family in their Baton Rouge home, Nussmeier could only sit and watch as 10 other quarterbacks were drafted before him, the weight of the moment finally hitting as he soaked it all in. This really shows how unpredictable the draft can be.

Just exactly 8 months back, most experts had him pegged as a first-round lock, with some way-too-early mock drafts even placing him as the No. 1 or No. 2 overall pick. Instead, the former SEC gunslinger had to wait through 248 other names before finally hearing his own. So what really happened?

The reason he fell so far down the list actually came down to some tough luck with his health, and nothing to do with skill issues. So, during the NFL Combine, doctors found a cyst on his spine, which explained why he’d been struggling with a lot of pain during his final season. Nussmeier tried to hide it because he would actually sit him out.

The hidden injury devastated his production. After throwing for over 4,000 yards in a stellar junior campaign, his numbers nosedived to just 1,927 yards and 12 touchdowns in nine starts. That single, silent medical issue cost him millions in guaranteed rookie money and erased six rounds of draft capital.

He was quite literally just 8 picks away from being “Mr. Irrelevant,” the very last pick of the draft, which explains why the emotions finally boiled over when the phone finally rang.

Landing in Kansas City offers a massive silver lining. While the historic draft fall stings, Nussmeier steps into a quarterback room anchored by Patrick Mahomes. With Mahomes recovering from a late-2025 knee injury, the rookie will likely absorb crucial offseason reps in a zero-pressure environment perfectly suited for his own physical recovery.

Now that the draft is over, the focus is all on his recovery. The word around Baton Rouge is that he’s expected to have a minimally invasive procedure to remove that spinal cyst sometime very soon. That should only sideline him for about 2 to 3 weeks. However, the good news is that doctors have given him a clean bill of health for the long term. So, it’s not a bold thing to say, there’s no reason he can’t get back to that 2024 form. He definitely has all the talent in the world to cut it in the NFL. Let’s see how this one shall go.

How much will Garrett Nussmeier make?

Because he was selected so late in the draft, Garrett Nussmeier’s new contract is a big-time drop from the first-round payday he was once projected to receive. As the 249th overall pick in the seventh round, his deal is essentially fixed by the NFL’s rookie wage scale. He is set to sign a four-year contract worth approximately $4.36 million with the Kansas City Chiefs.

While $4.36 million sounds like a lot for common folks, the way it’s structured for a seventh-rounder is very different from the “guaranteed millions” that top picks in the draft get. His four-year deal is structured very differently from a top pick’s, with only the signing bonus of roughly $100,000-$120,000 being fully guaranteed. The rest, including his first-year salary of around $915,120, is contingent on making the team. So, the average annual value (AAV) comes to about $1.09 million per year over the four-year term.

Ironically, Nussmeier might actually be taking a pay cut to join the NFL. During his time at LSU, his NIL valuation was estimated at $3.6 million at its peak. Now, he’ll have to make the 53-man roster just to ensure he collects that $915k base salary.