Drew Rosenhaus reveals which one of his NFL clients would have garned the most NIL money in college

As one of the biggest agents in all of football, Drew Rosenhaus has seen years of high-profile players and their respective values come and go. However, in the new age of NIL, not all of his clients earned their worth while on the collegiate level.

Rosenhaus joined On3’s Phillip Dukes during an interview on the ‘Five-Star Flex’. In that conversation, he gave his answer to which of his players would have made the most in name, image, and likeness. His eventual choice was TE Rob Gronkowski due to his stardom, which we saw in his time as a pro and now as a broadcaster, despite playing at a smaller college.

“It’s a good question. I’d have to say Rob Gronkowski,” said Rosenhaus. “You know, Rob is such a colorful personality. But, you know, Rob wasn’t really at a major program at Arizona, you know. Arizona wasn’t competing for championships.”

Gronkowski spent a pair of seasons in Tucson where he caught 75 passes for 1,197 yards and 16 scores. Those gave him the Wildcats’ program records for all three categories in single-game, season, and career at tight end. From there, he was the 42nd overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.

We all know what happened after in his career. Gronk became an all-time great tight end, if not the greatest, over 11 seasons in the NFL. In that time, Gronkowski made over $70 million in salary from his three professional contracts. He has earned a few millions more from endorsement deals and some figure for his work now at FOX Sports.

What Rosenhaus said wasn’t meant to be a criticism of Arizona. It’s just the nature of how things are now with him realizing the top programs are where you’re more likely to cash in rather than some of the schools that a few of his top clients have come out of.

“You know, I think that’s important to truly capitalize on NIL. You’re dealing with programs like Georgia and Alabama, Texas, Ohio State. These are the programs right now that I think are showing the most potential economically for players,” said Rosenhaus. “So, you know, the personalities in the NFL don’t always equivocate to college. Many of the guys you mentioned played at smaller schools like Central Michigan and Tennessee-Chattanooga. So just because they were, you know, electric personalities in the NFL, they would have been hidden in college playing at smaller programs.”

“It’s a thoughtful question,” Rosenhaus said. “You know, more likely, it would have been my clients from the biggest programs because that’s just the reality of the business.”