Making the case for — and against — Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith being worth $10 million

At this time next year, Jeremiah Smith will be preparing to become an NFL team’s offensive focal point. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who believes the Ohio State star wouldn’t be the best receiver — if not overall player — in this year’s draft.

He has to wait another season before he’s able to go pro, and he chose to remain loyal to Ryan Day and the Buckeyes rather than entertain other programs. Smith reportedly told On3 that he could’ve gotten over $10 million had he left Columbus.

Could the junior wideout really be worth such a hefty price tag?

Jeremiah Smith is probably worth backing up the Brinks truck for

Smith has lived up to his billing. He’s posted 2,558 receiving yards and 27 touchdown grabs over two seasons, more than proving why he was so highly regarded coming out of high school.

According to On3, Smith has an NIL valuation marked at $4.2 million. That figure is nearly $2 million higher than his quarterback, Julian Sayin, a Heisman Trophy finalist last season. Texas signal-caller Arch Manning ($5.4 million) is the only football player with a richer NIL valuation than Smith. 

Why $10 million might be too steep for Jeremiah Smith

On3’s Ari Wasserman isn’t certain that any talks of $10 million were anything more than an enticement.

“Here’s the thing that I have a really hard time with when it comes to comments like this — because I believe Jeremiah Smith is worth paying whatever you can afford to pay him,” Wasserman said Wednesday on “Andy & Ari On3.” “In NIL, there are so many moving parts. There are agents, there are people that might be contacting the agent to see if they can gauge interest (saying), ‘What if we paid you $10 million? Would you do it?’ Now, I think that there’s a lot of place within that merry-go-round of contact and gauging interest and seeing what could be possible that numbers could be flown around without actually being legitimate offers.

“I think that when you’re a player, you’re probably not as familiar with what’s an ironclad offer or what are numbers being flown around to see (interest).”

According to a position-by-position market value guide that CBS Sports compiled for the transfer portal, a top-notch pass-catcher normally nets $1-2 million. To dish $10 million out for one player — around a quarter of what some programs are shelling out for their entire roster — is an almost unbelievable figure.

Per OverTheCap.com, a $10 million payout would be higher than what former Buckeye stars Marvin Harrison Jr. ($8.8 million), Chris Olave ($4.8 million) and Emeka Egbuka ($4.5 million) make on average in the NFL.

If Smith simply earns what On3 estimates he’s worth next season, he’ll be making more than Carolina Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who was taken with the No. 7 choice of last year’s draft. Not too shabby.