The very first day the NCAA allowed its athletes to receive NIL money, Haley Cavinder was front and center with her sister, Hanna. They landed a deal with Boost Mobile, and even took it to Times Square, promoting it as the “first deal in collegiate NIL history.” A lot has changed for Haley since then. For one, the NIL trailblazer is married to Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson. And with that, the former offensive tone-setter for Fresno State and Miami now carries a tag that she’s not a fan of: WAG.

Haley Cavinder posted a reel on her Instagram – a video of herself wearing Ferguson’s No. 87 jersey and playing with the football at AT&T Stadium. Floating on the video, in a small caption, she wrote “wtf is a wag.” While the post garnered a lot of attention, some of the comments were less than kind. One of them even took a dig at Haley, writing, “Someone who needs $$? 😭🤣”

Haley, a master at managing online hate, fired back with a sarcastic quip: “ya let the girlies get their bag 💅?!”

Now, in no way does Haley Cavinder need to be married to a football star for money. Her estimated net worth lands somewhere between $2 and $3 million. Beyond this number, she already has more than a million followers on her Instagram alone, solidifying her name as a social media influencer. The YouTube channel she runs with her sister, The Cavinder Twins, has more than 220K subscribers who get regular updates, viral takes, nutrition advice, and a lot more.

Beyond that, in the huge list of their brand deals and endorsements, the twins have a three-year exclusive deal with Under Armour that they signed in 2024, making them the company’s brand ambassadors. That same year, both of them also landed on the Forbes 30 Under 30.

If that wasn’t enough, last month they launched their wellness brand Go Two. Haley leads the brand and creatives, while Hanna takes on influence and social media presence, and their agents, Jeff Hoffman and Alexi Hecht, will lead the business and strategy (Hoffman) and operations (Hecht).

Going back to Haley’s fiery comment, it’s no wonder she handled it like a pro, because this is something she has been dealing with for more than five years now. Last February, in an interview with ESPN, Hanna admitted both sisters have had to face a lot of criticism online.

“We can always sit here and say, ‘Oh, we don’t look at the comments,’ but we’re all human beings,” Hanna said. “Seeing something and then, obviously, you might start believing it yourself is kind of just a hard process.”

Haley, meanwhile, noted that they get through it by supporting each other amid all the hate.

“That just kind of comes with what you put on the internet,” Haley said. “At the end of the day, it just kind of made us have tougher skin and understand, ‘I can’t look for approval from people that really don’t know me.’ I look at it as a business tool, my social media. How do I maximize and capitalize off of it in that way? Because that is a dark hole that social media brings, and that is hard at times, but also this is what helps us. This is our dream job.”

The comments and the hate might continue for as long as Haley Cavinder is active on social media. But after all this time, as evidenced by her latest quip, she has learnt how to navigate it all with flair.