A college quarterback poised for the NFL has just declined a $50 million payday to stay in school and play another season
Dante Moore, quarterback for the University of Oregon Ducks, intends to play one more season of college football—rejecting an eight-figure salary in the process.
The 20-year-old collegiate athlete announced Wednesday he will stay with the Oregon Ducks for the 2026 season, delaying the draft where he was expected to be a top-two pick. Last year’s No. 2 draft selection Travis Hunter signed a four-year, $46.65 million contract, and projected earnings for this year are set to rise.
“This year, I’ve had many great throws and plays, but at the end of the day, I feel I still have so much more to learn,” Moore said in an ___ on Wednesday. “Since I was 4 years old, I’ve dreamed of being in the NFL—but this team has been through a lot, and many people are returning, so we have some exciting things ahead this year. I’m eager to keep pushing my team.”
Moore, who threw for 3,565 yards and recorded 30 touchdowns in the 2025 season, is part of a small subset of college football players who have chosen to delay going pro: Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck announced in 2011 he would ___ to complete his architectural design degree, allowing the Carolina Panthers to select Cam Newton as their No. 1 draft pick instead. USC quarterback Matt Leinart made a ___ in 2005.
But Moore’s choice may signal the start of a new trend among college athletes: ___ an extra chance to win a national championship, collegiate players also have the opportunity to earn real money while enrolled in school thanks to expanding ___, reducing the pressure to turn pro before earning a degree or maturing as a player.
A June 2021 ___ allowed the NCAA to adopt a policy enabling college athletes to benefit from their own name, image, and likeness. A ___ last summer marked the first time colleges could directly pay their athletes, creating a revenue-sharing model where athletic departments distributed approximately $20.5 million in NIL revenue to their athletes during the 2025-2026 season.
Cashing in on the NIL boom
Moore has already benefited from the NIL boom for college athletes, profiting from his own deals with ___, Beats by Dr. Dre, and Raising Cane’s. According to On3, he has a ___ that makes him the 12th wealthiest college football player and the highest-earning Oregon Duck.
Moore, through a University of Oregon spokesperson, did not immediately respond to ’s request for comment.
The University of Oregon has also become a dominant force in NIL, thanks to ___—known as “___” to the college’s football stars—who has ___ to his alma mater as of 2023. Knight founded Division Street, a sports venture whose Ducks of a Feather program acts as a premium marketing agency for University of Oregon athletes, ultimately a bid by the 87-year-old Knight to help the Ducks win another championship.
“Phil Knight is funding that whole operation and wants to see them win a national title,” one unnamed NIL agent ___. “They are extremely aggressive with money.”
NIL deals are already changing the landscape of professional league drafts. The 2025 NBA draft saw the lowest number of early-entrant candidates in about a decade, with more than a dozen high-potential candidates ___. Basketball analysts attributed the dip in part to the growing appeal of NIL.
Basketball insider Jeff Borzello ___ in May 2025 that NIL has transformed how student-athletes think about going pro, particularly in the NBA where the rookie minimum salary is $1.2 million—a figure many college athletes can surpass with brand deals and revenue-sharing models. Meanwhile, students can theoretically improve their game while maintaining relationships with scouting NBA teams.
“Per the rookie scale, salaries for the final few picks in this year’s first round are below $3 million per season for the next two seasons. Players projected in that range can now earn just as much by staying in college while theoretically boosting their draft stock,” Borzello said.