For Diego Pavia, there was always something to prove. First, it was making it through college football. Standing at a humble 5’10 (by NFL standards), many argued his big league dreams could reach heights he wouldn’t catch up to. But you’d think after leading Vanderbilt to one of the best seasons in program history and finishing as the 2025 Heisman Trophy runner-up, the questions around his NFL future should go away. Except, they didn’t.

Unfortunately, despite his long list of college football achievements and moving past the stereotype many had boxed him into, luck ultimately didn’t choose his side, albeit for different reasons. Ian Rapoport revealed as such in his latest tweet.

“The #Ravens have waived former #Vanderbilt star QB Diego Pavia prior to training camp,” the insider reported this week.

The move was largely a roster decision, but if you look at everything else that has transpired, it’s difficult not to speculate further.

Baltimore waived Pavia to free up a spot for veteran center Ethan Pocic, whom the team signed to a one-year, $4.5 million contract. Pavia had signed a three-year, $3.1 million undrafted free-agent deal with the Ravens in April, but he entered an already crowded quarterback room.

The Ravens already have four other quarterbacks on the roster: Lamar Jackson, Tyler Huntley, Skylar Thompson, and Joe Fagnano. Pavia was expected to compete for one of the backup spots, but with reigning MVP Jackson firmly entrenched as the franchise’s unquestioned QB1 and multiple quarterbacks already ahead of him, carving out a long-term role in Baltimore was always going to be an uphill battle.

The timing of the move also showed Baltimore’s priorities heading into training camp. Rather than carrying a fifth quarterback, the Ravens chose to reinforce one of the league’s most physically demanding position groups by adding Pocic, a veteran with 97 career starts who has spent nearly a decade making protection calls and anchoring offensive lines.

Pavia’s size, once again, became part of the conversation, but not for the reason most people assume. He measured exactly 5-foot-10 at the NFL Scouting Combine, though that number was already something of a moving target. At the Senior Bowl weeks earlier, he’d come in at 5-foot-9 and 7/8 inches, nearly two inches shorter than the six-foot mark Vanderbilt had listed him at during the 2025 season. But according to former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III, height wasn’t really what sank Pavia’s draft stock.

“Diego Pavia’s actions after the Heisman ceremony and allegedly before the NFL Draft hurt his draft stock more than his height,” Griffin said on his Outta Pocket with RGIII podcast, referencing photos that surfaced of Pavia at a strip club around 5 a.m., weeks before the draft.

“I’m not here to tell grown men how to spend their free time. You’re an adult, but there’s a time and place for everything… it’s not even just the optics, it’s the judgment,” Griffin said, arguing that teams weigh decision-making as heavily as arm talent in the final evaluation.

And that wasn’t even Pavia’s only polarizing moment of the cycle.

After finishing runner-up to Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza in Heisman voting, Pavia posted a photo captioned “F-All THE VOTERS” with a thumbs-down emoji. Although he later apologized for it, the heavy criticism from fans and analysts was already there.

Then, at the combine, rather than smoothing things over, Pavia doubled down.

“One thing about me is I don’t care what people think about me,” he told reporters in Indianapolis, dismissing much of the criticism as media-generated “clickbait.”

Pavia also opted not to participate in athletic testing at the combine, instead limiting his workout to quarterback drills, a decision that carried its own subplot, since he’d publicly bet former Heisman winner Johnny Manziel that he could beat Manziel’s college-era 40-yard dash time. He explained that he was saving the athletic testing for Vanderbilt’s Pro Day on March 18 instead, leaving teams to rely primarily on his game film when evaluating his projection to the NFL.

On the size question specifically, Pavia pointed reporters toward the tape rather than the tape measure: “I would just say turn on the tape. It’s not like we’re not playing these guys that are going first-round, second-round on Saturdays in the SEC,” he said, noting that the SEC and Big Ten produce the bulk of each year’s early draft picks.

He also traced his confidence back to a piece of advice from Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea, in one of the more memorable lines of his combine week: “Coach Lea always pressed that your frontal lobe isn’t fully developed til you’re 25, and I just turned 24. So I’ve got like 360 more days to go.”

But now, everyone else is either on an NFL roster or expected to compete for a spot, while the former Vanderbilt quarterback didn’t even get the opportunity to participate in Ravens training camp. The timing also suggests Baltimore had made its evaluation after rookie minicamp, OTAs and mandatory minicamp. Rather than carrying Pavia into training camp, the Ravens used his roster spot elsewhere.

He had arrived in the NFL with an impressive collegiate résumé, even finishing as the first runner-up in the Heisman voting behind Mendoza. After initially going under the radar coming out of high school, the quarterback built his name playing junior college football before starring at New Mexico State and eventually earning his Power Four opportunity with Vanderbilt. He helped transform the Commodores into one of college football’s surprise stories, a turnaround that crystallized in 2024, when he led Vanderbilt to a win over then-No. 1-ranked Alabama, one of the biggest upsets in program history.

His rise up to that point, too, was anything but conventional.

Before becoming an SEC star, Pavia spent two seasons at the New Mexico Military Institute and later helped New Mexico State to one of the biggest wins in program history before transferring to Vanderbilt. That winding journey earned him a reputation as one of college football’s toughest competitors long before he entered the national spotlight. Across two seasons in Nashville, he went 17-9 as a starter, turning Vanderbilt from an SEC afterthought into a genuine threat.

In 2025, Pavia led Vanderbilt to the program’s first 10-win season while throwing 29 touchdown passes, accounting for 39 total touchdowns, and tossing just eight interceptions. He also set single-season school records for victories by a starting quarterback, passing yards and touchdown passes, while finishing second nationally in total offense per game.

The season’s per-game numbers backed up the résumé: 3,539 passing yards on 70.6% completion, plus 862 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns, and earned him the nation’s best College QB Impact score (94.8), per Pro Football Network. He finished his collegiate career with 12,899 passing yards and 119 total touchdowns. He was also the SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2025 and earned the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the nation’s top upperclassman quarterback.

Despite it all, he became the first Heisman finalist to go undrafted since 2014, with questions about his age, his height, and now his off-field judgment all playing a part. There’s still hope for the young quarterback, though. Being waived before training camp isn’t necessarily the end of his NFL journey.

What’s next for Diego Pavia?

After being waived by the Ravens, Pavia is now on waivers. If he clears waivers, he will become a free agent and can sign with any NFL franchise.

Pavia can also join the Canadian Football League. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers currently hold his negotiating rights, allowing them the first opportunity to sign him if he chooses to head north.

The UFL has also expressed interest in the quarterback, dropping a “👀” on X. However, he would have to wait until next year to play in the league.

If another NFL team signs him, he will still have the opportunity to earn a rookie salary and continue developing at football’s highest level. Many undrafted quarterbacks spend time moving between rosters, practice squads, and alternative leagues before earning a long-term opportunity, so another NFL chance cannot be ruled out.

Being waived before training camp is undoubtedly a setback. But it isn’t unprecedented for undrafted quarterbacks. Pavia’s collegiate career was built on proving doubters wrong, and at just 24 years old, he’ll now look to do the same again if another opportunity presents itself. Even Griffin, his sharpest critic this week, left the door open for him: “I hope he stays true to the grind and learns from his mistakes to prove he is an NFL QB.”