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Report: How college teams are trying to navigate paying the college QB in this new era of NIL/Rev. sharing

Originally posted on NIL on SI | By Trent Knoop | Last updated Jun 9, 2025 12:22 PM ET

College athletics changed forever on Friday night when Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House vs. NCAA settlement. Teams will now be able to pay their players and each school will have roughly $20.5 million to pay their players. The two major sports, football and basketball, are expected to get most of the money -- football in particular.

Teams will now have to figure out how to allocate their money, and the Power Four schools will have between $13-$16 million to allocate in 2025. But even with the giant change in college athletics, it might not have all that much of an effect on the biggest position in college football: the QB. And if it does -- it's going to hamper teams.

According to On3's Pete Nakos, the price for a starting QB won't drop below $2-$4 million per year. Players like Darian Mensah, Carson Beck, and Beau Pribula commanded anywhere from $1.5-$4 million this past transfer cycle.

One thing is clear: The price of an elite quarterback is not dropping. In this year’s college football transfer portal, jaw-dropping quarterback numbers included a $3 million offer from Duke for Darian Mensah. Georgia’s Carson Beck transferred to Miami and stands to make more than $4 million. Missouri agreed to terms on a $1.5 million deal with Penn State transfer Beau Pribula in December, too.Pete Nakos

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While the price for a QB won't go down, it's hard to believe it can go up much more. Michigan freshman Bryce Underwood was rumored to land a $12 million NIL deal over the course of 3-4 years. But as one source told Nakos, overpaying the QB position will crush the allocations they have to pay the entire team.

“Obviously, if you wind up having to pay a significant portion of the salary for a quarterback out of the rev share, it’s going to crush your allocations,” another SEC source said.

“Hell no, the price for a quarterback isn’t changing,” another SEC source chimed in. “It’s the same as this spring. We’ll have rev share and above cap money — third-party money — nothing has really changed or will.”

Time will tell how this major shift in collegiate athletics will change college football, and what players command in this new era of football. The QB position will be the most fascinating one to watch unfold as football has become a pass-happy game.

NIL collectives & general managers don't see the price for top starting QBs dropping below $2 to $4 million annually in the rev-share era.

"If you wind up having to pay a significant portion of the salary for a quarterback out of the rev share, it’s going to crush your… pic.twitter.com/kf44dD6Ds7
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) June 9, 2025