Diego Pavia Signs With Baltimore as a UDFA — But the CFL Is Already Circling

Diego Pavia is a Baltimore Raven — for now. The high-profile undrafted free agent quarterback signed with the Ravens after going unclaimed in the 2025 NFL Draft, but as ProFootballTalk reported, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have been in active contact with his representatives, treating the CFL option as a genuine fallback rather than a distant hypothetical. Winnipeg G.M. Kyle Walters confirmed the conversations, telling reporters Wednesday that talks "picked up a little bit" around draft weekend before Baltimore secured his signature.

The mechanics here matter. Despite some breathless framing around Pavia's "three-year deal" with the Ravens, that's boilerplate — every UDFA contract runs three years under CBA rules, and it comes with zero guaranteed roster security. Baltimore can cut him tomorrow. The Ravens' quarterback room is already stacked with Lamar Jackson, and any UDFA signal-caller entering that building is fighting for a practice squad seat, not a depth chart role. The odds of Pavia seeing a regular-season NFL snap in 2025 are slim.

Walters was candid about both the timeline and Pavia's profile. "He is an interesting prospect," the G.M. said, adding that Pavia's confidence and competitiveness are traits the organization values at quarterback — personality and all. Winnipeg isn't deterred by Pavia's outspoken reputation; if anything, they're selling the CFL as a stage where his skill set — dual-threat ability, improvisation, arm talent in a spread system — could translate immediately rather than rot on a practice squad.

From a prop-betting standpoint, Pavia's NFL ceiling is a preseason story right now, not a regular-season one. If Baltimore keeps him through August, watch his preseason passing yards and TD props carefully — he'll get snaps in Week 3 or Week 4 meaningless games, and those lines will be set thin. But the more actionable angle is futures: if sportsbooks post any CFL-related markets or Pavia-specific preseason props ahead of the Ravens' exhibition schedule, the sharp money should account for the real probability that he never suits up in a game that counts. His path to NFL relevance runs through surviving training camp cuts first, and right now Winnipeg is the one with a chair ready when the music stops.

The broader takeaway is that Pavia's story isn't over if Baltimore releases him — it's just redirected. The CFL has absorbed NFL-adjacent quarterbacks before and turned them into stars. If Pavia clears waivers at any point this summer, expect the Blue Bombers to move fast. That makes any future NFL prop markets on Pavia — passing attempts, touchdowns, yards — inherently fragile until he proves he can stick on a 53-man roster.