Highest-Paid College Football Players if NIL Existed Since 2000

When Johnny Manziel famously debuted his "show me the money" gesture during his redshirt freshman season at Texas A&M, it wasn't meant to take on larger-than-life symbolism. Instead, it was simply an inside joke between Manziel and teammate Ben Molina that the two would break out during practices or scrimmages.

Once Manziel introduced the college football world to the gesture, where he would rub his fingers together like he was counting cash— it became a signature celebration that symbolized swagger, self-confidence, and defiance. It represented the financial value he brought to Texas A&M and the NCAA, and later came to represent the contradiction of high-revenue college athletics and unpaid players—making him an early icon of the NIL era.

A decade later, everything changed, as the NCAA’s policy allowing athletes to officially profit off NIL went into play. But what if NIL existed in college athletics before that time? What athletes would have been the most profitable if NIL went into effect at the turn of the century? How would former college standouts like Manziel or Florida's Tim Tebow have fared?

FOX Sports college football writers Laken Litman, RJ Young and Michael Cohen take a look at who they believe would have been the most profitable college football players if NIL had been around since 2000.

* All three writers were each given a hypothetical $100 million to distribute to their five choices while being asked to rank them from 1-5, with No. 1 being the most profitable. Here is a look at their picks and how they chose to distribute those funds.

Literally nicknamed "Money Manziel." That moniker complemented his well-known "show me the money" touchdown celebration as a nod to the NCAA, which punished him for