Let’s all take a deep breath and realize what Mississippi State just did. Or more to the point, what it was forced to do.
Kamario Taylor has eight career starts at the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback, and the school reportedly just signed him to a one-year deal worth $7.5 million for the 2027 season.
He’s 4-4 as a starter, 3-4 vs Power conference teams and 2-4 vs. the SEC. In two years in Starkville, he has yet to play a full season.
And Mississippi State just made him the second-highest paid player in college football history.
Why, you ask? Because if they didn’t, LSU would have. Or Texas or Texas A&M or Michigan or USC or any Power conference team with a need at
the most important position on the field — and the wallet to back it up.
Welcome to the newest and potentially most costly unintended consequence of the no-rules NIL era. Players with leverage driving up market value well beyond industry standards.
You’re not always paying for experience, and a track record of win and losses and championships. You’re sometimes paying for an elite athlete who has 25 total touchdowns (eight rush) in eight career starts.
That’s more than three touchdowns a game for Taylor, who isn’t remotely close to playing at his ceiling. You’re paying for what could be, not necessarily what is.
And you’re paying to keep him from any other team in college football.
Because if Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby had let these negotiations spill over into the first or second week of December and inch closer to the official Jan. 4 starting gate to enter the transfer portal, this could’ve gotten dicey for the Bulldogs.
Worse, had Taylor and Mississippi State not come to an agreement in early November, Taylor could’ve simply announced he was entering the portal on Jan. 4, and could’ve spent the next six weeks seeing what the market would bear.
Mississippi State doesn’t typically have this type of talent at quarterback, especially one that’s home grown and has made it clear he wants to play for the Bulldogs. One with a big and dynamic personality who can help recruit other players (high school and portal) to the program, and be the impetus for a College Football Playoff run in 2027.
Let me explain how the negotiation unfolded:
Lebby, to Taylor’s representation: What’s it going to take?
Taylor’s representation: $7.5 million, plus incentives.
Lebby: Done.
If you’re serious about winning games, and serious about avoiding the SEC cellar for another season, there’s little question what had to happen at Mississippi State. The decision was obvious — even if the Bulldogs did overpay for Taylor.
And make no mistake, overpay they did. The number is believed to be the second-largest, single-season contract in college football history, trailing only Darian Mensah’s 2026 deal at Miami.
But that deal included money paid to Duke to buy out Mensah’s deal with the Blue Devils, in addition to the money Mensah is earning to play for the Canes. Many industry experts believe Mensah’s single-season deal is worth well over $8 million for a quarterback who has proven to be among the best in the game — and has won conference championships in the American Conference and ACC.
Mississippi State just paid the second-highest single season salary to any college football player not so much to win, but to win and block. LSU or Georgia, or Indiana or Miami with Taylor is as scary a thought as can be for Mississippi State.
Taylor then winning a conference championship at another school and leading a deep CFP run, is a gut punch you can’t recover from. Is a statement that you’re not serious about winning, and you’re not invested in doing what it takes to win.
Those narratives seep into the heads of player representatives and coaches and general managers, and prevent programs from signing other players and building a competitive roster. The last thing anyone wants to be in the new NIL era is a team with a reputation for low-balling players.
Or a team that develops players, but doesn’t spend the money on retaining its talent. A team that prefers to pay someone else’s castoff from the portal.
Mississippi State isn’t exactly a heavy financial hitter in roster procurement, and isn’t close to the top teams in the SEC (Texas, LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia). Typically, Power conference football programs use 75% of revenue sharing cap, then add to the roster through private NIL.
Mississippi State’s estimated NIL market value in 2026 was $27.5 million, according to The Sideline. Taylor’s new deal would be 27% of that full cap.
For a player wth eight career starts.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mississippi State wildly overpaid for Kamario Taylor. It had no choice
