Chip Brown of Horns247 reported on Jan. 16 that Texas football junior quarterback Quinn Ewers passed on a lofty $8 million NIL offer to transfer to another school via the winter portal window to enter the 2025 NFL Draft.
Texas football's Quinn Ewers could've been one of the highest-paid transfers ever had he entered the portal this offseason for 2025
Part of the reason why Ewers reportedly declined the $8 million offer to enter the transfer portal this offseason was he wanted to end his career in college as a Longhorn. Ewers' head coach at Southlake Carroll High School, Riley Dodge, talked about his wanting to be remembered at Texas for his college career.
"Texas was the only place he wanted to play college football, Ewers' high school coach at Southlake Carroll. He wanted to leave Texas in good standing."Riley Dodge on Quinn Ewers
Ewers reportedly earned $6 million in NIL money in his three seasons at Texas (since 2022), along with an additional $1.4 million in NIL revenue in his one year with the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2021.
Thus, Ewers would've earned more money in the final year of his eligibility playing in college football than he received in the past four years at Texas and Ohio State combined.
The latest QB big board for the 2025 NFL Draft from ESPN's Jordan Reid projects Ewers to be a Day 2 or early Day 3 pick, which would probably put him around the third or fourth-round selection. If that holds for his middle-round projection in the NFL Draft this spring, he would probably wind up making less money than he would've based on Brown's report for another season in college for 2025.
According to Over The Cap, even if Ewers were to be selected with the first Day 2 pick of the 2025 draft, he would make a little south of $2 million per year for his rookie contract.