CJ Carr is valued at $3 million on On3’s NIL 100, the deal based model the site adopted on July 1, 2026 that tracks what a school and its collective pay a player rather than his endorsement value. That puts the Heisman contender 12th among college football players, tied with Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed and SMU’s Kevin Jennings, and well behind the two quarterbacks he is chasing on the Heisman board.
| Quarterback | School | Valuation | Heisman price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darian Mensah | Miami | $6.5M | +550 |
| Dante Moore | Oregon | $5M | +1500 |
| Sam Leavitt | LSU | $4.5M | +1700 |
| CJ Carr | Notre Dame | $3M | +800 |
| Arch Manning | Texas | $2.5M (plus $3.5M in endorsements) | +900 |
| Julian Sayin | Ohio State | $2.5M | +1400 |
Valuations from the On3 NIL 100; prices from BetMGM as of September 5.
Why the Number Is Lower Than the Hype
Carr has never been on the market. Mensah, Moore and Leavitt were all priced by a portal bidding war or a stay or go decision with the NFL; Carr signed as a high school four star, redshirted, won the job, and has never had a reason to test what another school would pay. Retention deals for a quarterback who has not threatened to leave run below portal prices, and Notre Dame’s reputation is for paying broadly across the roster rather than concentrating money in one player. The Irish roster is reported at $40.4 million for 2026, sixth nationally, with Carr the only Notre Dame player in the NIL 100.
A Heisman run changes the arithmetic. If he is a finalist in December and eligible for the 2027 draft, the price to keep him for 2027 becomes a Manning or Moore sized number, and Notre Dame will have to decide whether to pay it. That decision is covered on CJ Carr NFL draft.
How Notre Dame Pays Players
Notre Dame opted into the House settlement and pays up to the $21.3 million revenue share cap like everyone else, with third party NIL through its collective layered on top. As an independent it keeps its own NBC television money rather than a conference share, which is part of why a school with roughly 9,000 undergraduates carries a top six roster. The full national picture is on most expensive rosters and highest NIL valuations; Notre Dame’s own page is Notre Dame NIL.
The Bottom Line
CJ Carr is valued at $3 million, 12th among college football players and roughly half of what Darian Mensah and Dante Moore make, because he has never been a free agent. A Heisman season makes his 2027 retention price the biggest question of Notre Dame’s offseason. Profile: CJ Carr.