Former Vanderbilt football quarterback Diego Pavia will visit with the Carolina Panthers on April 7, per a report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Pavia won SEC Offensive Player of the Year and finished second in the Heisman voting in 2025 after leading Vanderbilt to a 10-3 season, its winningest ever. He’s hoping to be selected in the NFL draft, which will be from April 23-25.
Pavia threw for 3,539 yards, 27 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 2025, completing 267 of 378 passes. He led the SEC with a 70.6% completion percentage and 170.4 quarterback rating. On the ground, he had 862 yards and 10 touchdowns on 167 carries.
Pavia, who played at New Mexico State from 2022-23 before two seasons with the Commodores, finished his college career with 10,255 passing yards and 88 touchdowns as well as 3,094 rushing yards and 31 TDs.
Despite his impressive production at Vanderbilt, Pavia is not viewed as an early-round draft pick due to his age (24) and height. He measured 5-foot-9⅞ and 198 pounds at the Senior Bowl in January.
Pavia is ranked as the ninth-best quarterback in the draft by NFL.com. ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. had Pavia just outside his top 10 QBs in his latest Big Board rankings.
The Panthers reached the playoffs in 2025 with third-year starting quarterback Bryce Young, and signed Kenny Pickett in March to serve as Young’s backup.
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at [email protected] and on X/Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
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