Which college program’s NFL draft picks will sign for the most money?
Ohio State had more of its players picked in last week’s NFL Draft than any other college program, and the Buckeyes also won the draft’s bottom line.
Those two do not always line up.
Last year, four other college programs produced at least as many draft picks as Washington, but the Huskies’ 10 prospects signed contracts worth more than any other school’s crop of draft choices — $101.031 million.
The bottom-line standings are a ranking of the total value of the contracts that will be signed by each college program’s draft class as the players enter the NFL.
Ohio State had 14 of its players picked in the 2025 NFL Draft, and they will sign contracts totaling $131.504 million.
Each drafted player receives a four-year contract. The values of those contracts are based on the NFL’s salary cap of $279.2 million for the 2025 season and this year’s rookie compensation pool in a formula spelled out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and its players association. That makes it possible to estimate the money allotted to each draft slot (and the sports financial website spotrac.com has done so).
Because the values of the contracts decrease throughout the draft, the position of the drafted players means the bottom-line standings don’t line up exactly with the total-picks standings. But in addition to its volume of picks, Ohio State produced four first-round selections and six of the first 38 players drafted in 2025.
Georgia and Texas finished second and third for the most players picked with 13 and 12, respectively. But the SEC programs switched positions in the bottom-line standings.
Before Washington in 2024 and Ohio State in 2025, an SEC program had won the bottom-line standings for six consecutive seasons, with Alabama on top in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023, LSU in 2020 and Georgia in 2022.
The 10 college programs whose drafted players will sign for the most money this year include:
1. Ohio State: $131.504 million by 14 players
2. Texas: $115.416 million by 12 players
3. Georgia: $115.051 million by 13 players
4. Michigan: $113.871 million by seven players
5. Penn State: $81.374 million by five players
6. Oregon: $80.157 million by 10 players
7. Miami (Fla.): $80.058 million by seven players
8. LSU: $79.94 million by seven players
9. Ole Miss: $71.731 million by eight players
10. Alabama: $62.768 million by seven players
The 10 colleges with the most players picked in the 2025 NFL Draft were (each with the number of players chosen and its finish in the bottom-line standings):
1. Ohio State: 14 players (first in the bottom-line standings)
2. Georgia: 13 (third)
3. Texas: 12 (second)
4. Oregon: 10 (sixth)
5. Ole Miss: Eight (ninth)
6. Alabama: Seven (10th)
6. Florida: Seven (20th)
6. LSU: Seven (eighth)
6. Michigan: Seven (fourth)
6. Miami (Fla): Seven (seventh)
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.