In an appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show," Michael Irvin was asked who would have been the highest-paid college athlete if today's NIL market had existed in his era. In his answer, he also revealed that he had heard about Jeremiah Smith's lucrative offseason offer, which had everybody talking just a couple months ago.
"What I heard is that Jeremiah Smith got up to $10 million offered."
Going off that number, he listed Deion Sanders, Cam Newton, Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson. Irvin made clear he was repeating what he had been told, but he did also comment on the choice that Smith made.
“What I heard… what I heard… is that Jeremiah Smith got up to $10 million offered.” — @michaelirvin88 discusses NIL and what it would have been like if he had NIL at The U. pic.twitter.com/wR2ljNHHi7
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 22, 2026
"I don't understand why he didn't do it, but from what I heard, Jeremiah Smith got up to $10 million offered," Irvin said. "I don't know how you can get offered $10 million and not go home to play football. So I look at that and imagine what Deion would've gotten."
Back in April, Smith said that programs were offering "over 10 million dollars, easy" to pull him out of Columbus. Miami has been the program most often linked to that number since Smith is from Miami Gardens and starred at Chaminade-Madonna Prep. Neither Smith nor the Hurricanes have confirmed that the $10 million offer came from Coral Gables, but these things don't go away.
If a Miami Gardens product can command eight figures to transfer home in 2026, Irvin asked what would Sanders have been worth in the late 1980s? What would Irvin have been worth as the featured receiver on Jimmy Johnson's 1987 title team?
Those numbers would have been high, even for the 1980s.
He also said that he wouldn't have left Miami, even if he had an offer like that on the table. Part of him understands where Smith is coming from, but it really is only hypothetical with the eras being so different.
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