I've seen the idea thrown around, but given that they do have a fixed budget for NIL (more or less), I'm not sure dropping 33-50% of the budget on the QB position would be wise. It's hard to know exactly what these guys are going to get, but I'd assume Gabriel is in the $1.0-1.5m range and more is in the $750-1.0m range. They're going to want to attack the DL, secondary, and receiver room as well. Not to mention, take a swing for an elite LB, TE, or kicker shows interest. And they've got to pay for the 2024 class while giving bumps to current players who are getting calls from other teams.
From what I've been told, it's a far more complicated juggling act than some might assume.
for sure it's a juggling act
clearly though, by far the most important position in college football is QB. A team can't become elite without high quality QB performance. So, it's pretty easy to justify a sizable chunk of the NIL budget going to a proven, quality QB. The other side of that is that NIL and the transfer portal has completely changed how teams, especially good teams, base their decisions on filling their QB units. There will be really good QB's entering the portal every year (
and keep in mind there are two portals; one in December and one in the spring). I'm not sure if teams will be patient any more in developing young players that don't perform well, and show a lot, right away. And by perform well, I mean the ability to read defenses, go thru progressions, and minimize mistakes
UCLA decided it couldn't afford more than about 3-4 games with Dante Moore as the starter, so they benched him and now Moore is in the portal
a program having a 4-year starter at QB, like Justin Herbert, is going to be extremely rare going forward
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from the Athletic:
I'm not sure if the Day 1 numbers + the other 29 days of the portal will track last season. But if there was a 44% increase in day 1 entries, it's notable that over 2100 players entered last year's portal. If it tracks, that could mean nearly 3000 players entering this December....yeeeeesh
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anyway, we know the big NIL bucks are headed to QB's. It would be interesting to know what positions after QB are the best paid:
* I'm assuming WR's are a little higher on the food chain than RB's
* OT's, especially LT's and maybe C's might be as valuable as WR's. For left-handed QB's (
like Dillon Gabriel), RT's might be critical
* my guess is that elite edge rushers and CB's might be competing for the 2nd most NIL money. Oregon played it's best this season when Dorlus and Burch were on the edges while Khyree Jackson and Jahlil Florence were healthy at the corners. In the CCG, Burch only played half of the first Q, Florence didn't even travel, and Jackson was hobbled