College football's highest-paid NIL players and who's actually worth the money

Each new college football season means plenty of new faces in new places around the country — and, with the advent of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) payments, many of those new faces are making big-time money. It's simply the cost of doing business in 2026, where every program wants to add as much talent as possible and boosters with very deep pockets won't take no for an answer.

This offseason was the craziest we've seen yet, at least from a financial perspective. But just how much are the most expensive players in the country making — and, just as importantly, which of them will actually be worth that money to their teams this fall?

College football's highest-paid players for 2026: Follow the NIL money

Luckily, we can answer the first question with some degree of accuracy, thanks to the On3 NIL Valuation database. Previously an algorithm-based model that made a best estimate, the site now has enough inside information to provide how much each player will actually be making for the 2026 season. Here's who tops the list this year:

Some of these names are a who's who of returning stars, from Jeremiah Smith to Trinidad Chambliss to Arch Manning. Others are ... maybe not who you'd expect. Who are the best values, and who could trigger a case of buyer's remorse?

QB Darian Mensah, Miami

Miami dropped huge cash to lure Carson Beck to South Florida in 2025, and it resulted in a national title appearance. So, to replace Beck, they went even bigger, throwing a $6.5 million bag at Duke's Darian Mensah — a huge bet on an ascending player who still has some questions to answer.

Don't get me wrong: This could well work out like gangbusters. The Canes have plenty of talent around him in WR Malachi Toney, RB Mark Fletcher Jr. and another Mario Cristobal O-line, and Shannon Dawson is one of the more underrated OCs in the country. But Mensah doesn't have eye-popping physical talent, and he's hardly proven on the big stages he's about to be thrust onto. Miami was forced to pay the going rate, but it could come back to haunt them.

OT Jordan Seaton, LSU

Quarterbacks dominate the top of this year's NIL leaderboard, as you'd expect. But if I had to choose between paying a non-stratospheric QB and paying Seaton, I'm choosing the latter every time.

Quite possibly the best offensive tackle in the country, he toiled in obscurity for a Colorado team that couldn't put a functional unit around him. Now, though, he's the jewel of Lane Kiffin's first loaded portal class at LSU, where he'll be tasked with anchoring a makeshift offensive line for a national title hopeful. If you're trying to build a contender on the fly as Kiffin is, you can't do much better than locking in a future top-10 pick on the blind side, and Seaton will be well worth his hefty paycheck.

WR Cam Coleman, Texas

This isn't a reflection of Coleman as a talent; his middling stats at Auburn say much more about the Tigers' dysfunction than anything else, and he remains one of the most jaw-dropping athletes at any position in the country. But Steve Sarkisian went out of his way to make Coleman a priority in the portal this offseason, at the expense of potentially fleshing out his depth elsewhere.

Will that prove to be a wise decision? If Texas stays healthy, probably — have you seen the embarrassment of riches Sark's assembled? But it's worth noting that there isn't a ton in the way of proven production behind that first wave of stars, and while Arch Manning was done wrong by drops for much of last season, this wasn't a position where the Horns needed to go shopping at the tippy-top of the market. Especially not for a guy who's still yet to crack 750 yards in a single season.

EDGE Colin Simmons, Texas

Okay, now it's time to get back in Texas fans' good graces. Because my word, is everybody about to find out just how sensational Simmons is this season.

In all the talk about the loaded 2027 NFL Draft class, Simmons hasn't gotten the attention he deserves, but that's going to change in a big way this fall if the Horns make good on the national title hype. He's posted nine and 12 sacks across his first two years on campus, and it feels like he's yet to even scratch the surface of his ultimate ceiling. He richly deserves to be the highest-paid EDGE in the country, and he's a far better value than some of the inflated QBs above him on this list. Speaking of which ...

Anthony Colandrea, Nebraska; Austin Simmons, Missouri

I don't mean to single out Colandrea and Simmons here, both of whom could well pan out for their respective teams this season. The former balled out as UNLV last season and could take off under Dana Holgorsen at Nebraska, while the latter was the next man up under Kiffin at Ole Miss this time 12 months ago. (Just don't ask how that opportunity went.)

This is really about the broader principle. There are only so many viable Power 4 quarterbacks to go around, and naturally the programs at the top of the food chain will have their pick of the available crop each offseason. Which leaves middle-class programs — yes, Nebraska, it's 2026 — with a choice: Pay through the nose for a B- or C-tier player, or try to Moneyball the position while surrounding him with elite talent at other positions.

Nebraska and Missouri are two programs that opted for the former strategy, and I'm not sure it'll prove a wise one. The difference between Colandrea and Simmons and the next rung down at QB probably isn't as wide as the gap in talent you'd get if you rerouted that extra million or so elsewhere.

WR Malachi Toney, Miami

All Toney did in his first year on campus was catch over 100 balls for over 1,200 yards as the best player on an offense that made it all the way to the national championship game — no big deal. He doesn't have the physical projection for the next level that Coleman or Jeremiah Smith do, but he's an unbelievable player who's nearly impossible to cover in the slot, and he's criminally low on this NIL list. Expect him to shoot up in 2027 if he improves as a sophomore.

WR Ryan Coleman-Williams, Alabama

What an odyssey it's been for Coleman-Williams, who burst onto scene like a house afire as a freshman but faded down the stretch and then disappeared for large stretches of 2025. He was passed over on the depth chart by the likes of Lotzeir Brooks and Isaiah Horton at times last season, finishing with just 49 catches for 689 yards.

With Horton gone, the Tide are counting on him in a major way to help shepherd Keelon Russell to stardom; if he can't recapture his 2024 form, there's a decided lack of Dudes on this Alabama offense. Right now, though, he's looking like nearly $2 million poorly spent, as that Georgia game gets further and further into the rearview.

QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, Cal

JKS is down around quarterbacks like Kevin Jennings and Mason Heintschel, and frankly, I just think he's a much better passer with a much higher ceiling than either of them. It was a bit of a bumpy ride as a freshman last season, but man, were the highs stratospheric — programs like Cal simply don't have access to NFL arms like Sagapolutele's all that often.

Keeping him around was the single biggest win of Tosh Lupoi's first offseason at the helm in Berkeley. With Ian Strong and CHase Hendricks upgrading the receiving corps and hopefully a less dismal offensive line in front of him, the sky is the limit.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow