Diego Pavia Waived by Ravens, Top Potential Landing Spots for Former CFB Star

Diego Pavia is looking for a new NFL home.

The Baltimore Ravens released the rookie quarterback on Thursday, well ahead of their Sept. 13 season opener against the Indianapolis Colts.

The Vanderbilt product isn't someone who is realistically going to start in the NFL at this stage of his career, so he should look for teams with established star quarterbacks and offensive-minded coaches where he can learn as much as possible as a practice-squad player or third-stringer.

With that in mind, here are some potential landing spots:

• Kansas City Chiefs
• Los Angeles Rams
• Buffalo Bills

Baltimore's decision to move on isn't a shocking development considering Pavia's future in the NFL seemed tenuous at best when he wasn't selected at the 2026 NFL draft despite being a Heisman Trophy finalist during his final season at Vanderbilt. In fact, he became the first Heisman finalist to go undrafted since 2014.

Still, it didn't take the Ravens long to reach out.

Baltimore signed him to a three-year deal shortly after the draft ended, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. The AFC North team had originally scheduled a tryout for the quarterback but decided to sign him in advance.

While it was hard to argue with Pavia's production when he was at Vanderbilt, he measured in at 5-foot-9 7/8 at the Senior Bowl and 5-foot-10 1/8 at the NFL Scouting Combine. That is quite short for an NFL quarterback, and it was fair to wonder how effective he would be against NFL defenses even if he had plenty of self-confidence.

"Yeah, my size has been doubted my whole life," Pavia told reporters in January. "I feel like the only thing the NFL cares about is can you win, and I view myself as a winner. I've been fortunate with all these great teams that I've had—we've never had a losing season. So that's something to look forward to, I hope, for the rest of my career, that's how it's going to be."

Diego Pavia Highlights

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His size didn't stop him from completing 70.6 percent of his passes for 3,539 yards, 29 touchdowns and eight interceptions to go with 862 yards and 10 scores on the ground as a runner during the 2025 campaign with the Commodores. 

He led them to a 10-3 record as well, which marked their first double-digit-win season in program history.

Baltimore surely took that all into account when it initially decided to bring him in, but he apparently hasn't shown enough heading into his rookie season to justify a spot on the roster.

That is an unfortunate development for Pavia considering he could have learned from two-time MVP Lamar Jackson and veteran backup Tyler Huntley in the early stages of his career had he remained with the Ravens. While he wouldn't have been in line for meaningful playing time, it still represented an opportunity to improve.

Instead, he will be looking for a similar opportunity elsewhere following this development.