Former Vanderbilt football quarterback and 2025 Heisman Trophy runner-up Diego Pavia remains on the 2026 NFL Draft board after the first three rounds.
Pavia, who led Vanderbilt to a record-setting season last year, finished second to No. 1 overall pick and fellow quarterback Fernando Mendoza of national champion Indiana in the Heisman voting.
Pavia, the outspoken 24-year-old also made headlines off the field, such as when he criticized Heisman voters on Instagram.
Pavia is projected as a seventh-round pick or to be an undrafted free agent.
Pavia was ranked the No. 12 quarterback on the ESPN analyst's board behind Mendoza, Ty Simpson, Carson Beck, Garrett Nussemeier, Drew Allar, Cole Payton, Taylen Green, Cade Klubnik, Luke Altmyer, Sawyer Robertson and Haynes King. He is ranked two spots ahead of former Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar.
Fernando Mendoza, Indiana, No. 1 overall by the Raiders
Vanderbilt listed Pavia as 6-foot. However, he was measured at the Senior Bowl as standing 5-9⅞. That will play a large part of Pavia getting drafted.
In 2025, Pavia was 267-for-378 passing for 3,539 yards and an SEC-best 29 touchdowns while also leading the conference in quarterback rating (170.4) passing % (70.6), yards gained per pass attempt (9.4) and adjusted yards gained per pass attempt (9.94). He also ran for 862 yards and 10 touchdowns.
In two seasons at Vanderbilt, Pavia was 444-for-676 for 5,832 yards and 49 touchdowns and 12 interceptions passing in 26 career games. He ran for 1,663 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Explaining why Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia is sliding in 2026 NFL Draft