Winnipeg Blue Bombers keeping tabs on QB Diego Pavia

Photo: Mike Stadlman/Vanderbilt

Though it remains unclear if Diego Pavia will ever sign a CFL contract, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers made contact with the star quarterback’s representation after he recently went unselected in the 2026 NFL Draft.

“(Conversations) picked up a little bit, just educating them (about the CFL),” general manager Kyle Walters told the media on Wednesday.

“(Pavia’s representatives) were fine and receptive … but like all guys — guys with much lesser pedigrees than him — we (as CFL teams) all kind of get the same treatment prior to the NFL draft, which is ‘Politely, we’re focused on the NFL and we’ll see what shakes down.'”

The 24-year-old signed with the Baltimore Ravens on Tuesday, ending speculation that the CFL could be in his relatively near future. Pavia was a free agent for 72 hours after the NFL draft, raising questions about whether or not any of the league’s teams would sign him.

The Blue Bombers, who own Pavia’s exclusive CFL rights, have backed off for the time being, though it seems they’ll approach his camp again if things don’t work out with the Ravens.

“Especially with a young man like that with his pedigree, he’s dialled in on the NFL, and we understand that,” said Walters.

“It’s not the right time to educate players on the CFL when they’re so dialled in on the NFL, but he is an interesting prospect, and yes, we’ve been in contact with the agent, but it’s just very early, and now that he signed with Baltimore, I don’t think that it’s much of a conversation moving forward at this point.”

Pavia was a bona fide college star over two seasons at Vanderbilt University, earning two All-SEC selections, a first-team All-American selection, a Heisman Trophy nomination, and winning the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm and SEC Offensive Player of the Year awards.

The five-foot-ten, 207-pound passer went 17-9 as a starter with the Commodores, completing 65.7 percent of his passes for 5,832 yards, 49 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He also rushed for 1,663 yards and 18 scores.

For context, Vanderbilt is a perennial SEC doormat. The team had ten-straight losing seasons before Pavia arrived on campus, even going winless in 2020. Leading the school to back-to-back winning seasons was no small feat.

Ben DiNucci, a CBS analyst who played in the NFL and XFL, recently went as far as to suggest Pavia could have a CFL career similar to that of Doug Flutie.

Though Walters used less exaltation in his assessment, he’s clearly excited about Pavia’s potential at the professional level.

“He’s exciting. That guy wins,” he said. “We would love to have him up here and I think he would be a very interesting prospect if he ever makes his way up here.”

Winnipeg’s internal team motto is “FIFO,” which stands for “Fit in or f— off.” The acronym was etched into the team’s Grey Cup rings in 2021 and several players have it tattooed on their bodies.

As such, it would be interesting to see how Pavia would fit into the locker room. Based on his social media conduct, he doesn’t exactly come across as particularly modest or level-headed.

This doesn’t appear to be a concern for Walters, who seems to think self-assuredness is a positive thing at the quarterback position.

“(Head coach) Mike (O’Shea) and I, we’re old and we understand that young guys today change. We’re not like old men yelling at clouds — we understand that young men today are different, and we get that. You’re not going to hold against him for being an individual, as long as it’s not a distraction to the team,” said Walters.

“He’s got a big personality and he’d make (the communications staff’s) job harder, I’m sure, if he were to sign, but he’s an interesting young man that competes and is confident in himself, which at that position is not a bad thing.”