Diego Pavia Will Be NFL Draft's Most Polarizing Prospect. But, All He Needs is One Team to Love Him. – Sports Illustrated

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Diego Pavia’s Senior Bowl week didn’t promise much, but one thing was a given. Knowing Pavia, this wouldn’t be quiet. This wouldn’t be under the radar, either. 
Even if Pavia intended this to be an under the radar week, his stature and polarizing nature made that improbable at the least and more likely impossible. Knowing Pavia is knowing that he wasn’t going to be in favor of this being quiet, though. 
The former Vanderbilt quarterback was the Senior Bowl’s loudest attendee, and he appeared to be intentional about that pursuit. Perhaps knowing Pavia indicates that it was more natural than intentional, though. 
Pavia’s most polarizing message sounded awfully similar to the ones he delivered at the podium over the course of the season. 
"When has the last SEC player of the year not been drafted?” Pavia told reporters throughout the week. “The tape number speaks for [itself]. Everything speaks for themselves. I feel like I'm the best player in the country, and I still believe that. That's just the ultimate confidence that I've had."
Pavia's angle isn’t untrue, but it doesn’t consider the context that could hold him back as he pursues his NFL dream. 
The former Vanderbilt quarterback is the most interesting man in the NFL Draft this cycle. How NFL teams feel in their gut when they hear something along those lines will ultimately determine how this all ends for Pavia. It only takes one team to love Pavia–and there’s plenty of reasons to if a team has dug deeply into Pavia. 
Those who have been around Pavia swear by him–as evidenced by Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea making the trip to Mobile to support him throughout Senior Bowl week–and will stand by the idea that he should be drafted. His college resume–which includes a trip to New York and a season in which he was the SEC’s best quarterback–also supports that idea. The skillset that Pavia has demonstrated over the past two seasons is electrifying at best and consistent at worst. Pavia won’t let anyone forget that he’s won everywhere he’s been, too. 
That paragraph in itself lacks context, though. Only considering that paragraph may indicate that Pavia is the first quarterback off the board in the draft a few months from now. 
He’s not going to be, though. He may not be drafted. 
Pavia’s polarizing nature limits his risk-averse target market. Some love Pavia’s confidence and story, but he also has to enter this process knowing that he will likely be all but crossed off of some draft boards entirely regardless of how he performs in his pre-draft process. Pavia did that to himself. That’s what happens when the biggest memory from his trip to the Heisman Ceremony in New York is his post-ceremony antics in a New York nightclub. That’s what happens when a number of his outrageous claims in interviews indicate to some evaluators that he’ll be more of a distraction than anything if he’s invited to camp–and you can’t be a distraction as a late-round pick that doesn’t have much of a path to immediate playing time. 
All of those things don’t even consider the divisive nature of Pavia’s on-field profile. If the Vanderbilt quarterback ever steps on an NFL field in a regular season game, he’d be the shortest quarterback in the Super Bowl era. The shortest quarterbacks currently in the game are Panthers signal-caller Bryce Young and Cardinals’ Kyler Murray, who were both measured 5’10” and 1/8 before their respective drafts. Pavia measured in last week at 5’9 and 3/4ths. Pavia’s often improv-based style in which he largely relied on generating yards on the ground, through contact, without elite speed also doesn’t necessarily lend itself to the NFL style of play. 
When Pavia was done at Saturday’s Senior Bowl, he finished the day with 10-of-13 passing, one explosive play, 78 total yards and a pass batted down. His best–and most telling–moment may have been a play in which he forced a fumble. The performance–and Pavia’s week as a whole–lended some credence to his draft profile, but it wasn't convincing enough to give it a positive feel to everyone involved. Like Pavia as a whole, his week in Mobile was loveable to some and objectively not appealing enough to others. 
“I like Diego’s DNA. I like how he’s made up,” former NFL quarterback David Carr said. “This is almost like, I’m not comparing him to Shedeur Sanders, but Shedeur's mental approach (means) the game is not scary for him. (For) Diego, this game is not terrifying for him at all, and there’s something to be said for that in the NFL.”
"I don't think Diego Pavia can play quarterback in the NFL," NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay said during the week. "You watch him during team sessions and you watch him during some of the seven-on-seven stuff and there's some fun things to watch, man…But when you watch him just like the one-on-ones, seven-on-sevens having to drive the ball, NFL throws…it's not the same as the other guys."
The idea of being counted out isn’t new to Pavia–nor will it ever go away–but the next few months are emblematic of a crossroads of sorts in his career. Perhaps the part that keeps Pavia up at night is the idea that he ultimately can’t control what the narrative around him becomes anymore. 
No longer can his performance in events define how this plays out like every other draft prospect’s process. No longer can anything he says get him into the field. Pavia is what he is at this point, he just needs a chance. 
Time to see who gives it to him, and when it comes.
Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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