Diego Pavia’s first shot at an NFL roster spot is over almost as quickly as it started. The Baltimore Ravens waived the undrafted rookie quarterback on Thursday, cutting him loose just a day before rookies were due to report for training camp — an unceremonious end to a tenure that never got past the practice field.
From Vanderbilt’s Biggest Season Ever to Camp Cuts
Pavia arrived in Baltimore with a resume that made the transaction sting a little more than a typical roster trim. Last season, he quarterbacked Vanderbilt to its first 10-win season in program history, throwing for 3,539 yards and 29 touchdowns and finishing as the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy — the sport’s highest individual honor. That kind of production, at a program that hasn’t historically competed at the top of the SEC, was the whole reason an undrafted quarterback carried real buzz heading into an NFL locker room in the first place.
None of that transferred into draft capital. Pavia went unselected and signed with the Ravens as a free agent back in April, betting on an opportunity to make a roster through camp performance rather than draft-day investment. That bet didn’t pay off. On Thursday, Baltimore waived him to clear a roster spot for veteran center Ethan Pocic, a straightforward numbers move on a 90-man roster that had no room left for a long-shot quarterback battle.
The Size Question That Followed Him Out of College
Pavia’s college tape was never really in dispute — 29 touchdown passes and a program-record season speak for themselves. What scouts couldn’t get past was his frame. Listed at 5-foot-10, Pavia was undersized by the standards NFL evaluators typically apply to the position, and that measurement shadowed him through the pre-draft process and into rookie minicamp. Height alone doesn’t end careers at quarterback — plenty of shorter passers have found NFL success — but it’s historically one of the steepest hills an undrafted prospect has to climb, and Pavia didn’t have the draft slot to buy himself extra patience while he tried.
Why There Was No Room at the Top
The math in Baltimore was never in Pavia’s favor. Lamar Jackson, the two-time NFL MVP, is entrenched as the starter, and Tyler Huntley was re-signed this offseason to hold down the backup job behind him. That left a single competition for a potential third quarterback spot, and Pavia wasn’t even the presumptive favorite for it. Skylar Thompson reportedly impressed the coaching staff during minicamp, and fellow undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano, out of Connecticut, was also in the mix. Reports out of Baltimore indicate the team may simply carry two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster this season rather than three — which would have made Pavia’s path to a regular-season roster spot narrow even if he’d won the competition outright.
Baltimore’s interest in Pavia in the first place reportedly traced back to familiarity within the organization’s coaching circle with his time at Vanderbilt, the kind of connection that often gets an undrafted player a look in the first place, even if it can’t guarantee him a roster spot once real numbers pressure hits before camp.
What Comes Next
Being waived before training camp even opens is not the same as being finished. NFL rosters churn constantly through the preseason, and quarterbacks with real college production — especially ones who nearly won a Heisman a year ago — tend to draw workout interest even after an initial release. Practice squads, other teams’ camp battles, and midseason injury replacements are all realistic paths back into a building, and Pavia’s Vanderbilt tape isn’t going to stop existing because Baltimore moved on. For now, though, he’s a free agent again, seven months after the Ravens took a flier on him, watching from outside as a camp he never got to compete in kicks off without him.
For Vanderbilt fans, the release is a reminder of how unforgiving the jump to the NFL can be, even for a player who authored the best season the program has ever had. The Commodores’ historic 10-win year was Pavia’s alone to lead, and it earned him a Heisman finalist trophy and a legitimate NFL opportunity. It didn’t, in the end, buy him a training camp roster spot. Whether he lands with another franchise before Week 1 or has to rebuild his case from outside the league entirely, Thursday’s move puts the size questions that followed him through the draft process right back in front of him — this time with a lot less runway to answer them.
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