Ohio State hasn't made very many NIL mistakes since it became legal. Ryan Day has been very careful about who he hands a large amount of money to. For the most part, he has only paid large chunks of change to players who have proven production in the Transfer Portal.
One exception to that is former Buckeye offensive lineman Ethan Onianwa. He was brought in from Rice and was expected to be the starting left tackle a year ago. He was paid over $1 million to do so. However, he couldn't even see the field as a backup. He was somehow drafted by the Atlanta Falcons, and now he has made their roster.
Former Ohio State OL Ethan Onianwa makes Falcons' 53-man roster
Despite being a third-string offensive lineman for the Ohio State Buckeyes in his final year in college, Onianwa was able to make the Falcons' final roster. He was a seventh-round pick, and the Falcons are giving him a chance to play as a professional now that the preseason is over.
Quite frankly, there is no logical explanation for this. Onianwa was horrendous in Columbus. Ohio State had guys moving around all over the place last year on the offensive line, and he still couldn't find the field. He didn't even play tackle, which is the position he was brought in to play.
Standing at 6'7 and 333 pounds, perhaps Atlanta is just banking on being able to develop him based on his physical tools. Maybe Onianwa lost all motivation once he got his money from the Buckeyes and stopped caring. I truly don't know how this man is making an NFL paycheck.
Atlanta's offensive line is a mess, and the top two quarterbacks they have are injury-prone as it is. There is a chance the Falcons end up being the worst team in the NFL this year. Perhaps that's the only reason why Onianwa was able to scrape by and make the roster.
Buckeyes have impressive two-year run with guys making NFL rosters
With Onianwa making the Falcons' roster, all of the players who were drafted from both the 2024 and the 2025 teams have made NFL rosters. That's a very impressive run for the Buckeyes and shows that they can develop talent at an elite level. That's not something that every program can claim.
Ohio State is hoping to use the NFL-level talent that they have on the roster this season to win another national championship. They are the top-ranked team in the country for a reason, and not even someone like Onianwa was able to derail the Buckeyes from finishing last year undefeated in the regular season.
I highly doubt that Onianwa will last long in the NFL. Either he wasn't good enough to play at Ohio State, or he didn't care enough while he was in Columbus. Either way, those aren't good traits to be successful at the NFL level. It would be surprising if he lasts multiple seasons at the next level, but perhaps he could surprise me.
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