“That’s all it boils down to”: Former NFL CB bluntly assesses Nico Iamaleava’s Tennessee exit over $4 million contract conflict

The fiasco between Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee sent shockwaves through the college football world over the weekend. At the tail end of the Volunteers' spring camp, the quarterback, who has a year of starting experience at the program, attempted to renegotiate his NIL contract.

The drama got intense on Friday after the quarterback was absent from practice, a move that surprised the team's coaches and his teammates. It was later made known on Saturday that Tennessee is moving on from Iamaleava while he would enter the transfer portal.

Dominique Foxworth bluntly assessed the contract situation in Knoxville on a recent installment of his podcast show. The former NFL cornerback believes Tennessee refused to meet the demand of Nico Iamaleava because he hasn't proven to be worth it.

“I think that a lot of the stories that I've been reading about this feel like a lot of people wish-casting,” Foxworth said. “They want this to be some major market correction where power is shifting back to institutions away from the greedy players. I'm not sure that I see this as that at all.

“I think this is a guy who probably isn't as good as he needs to be to pull off this move. That's all it boils down to for me, and sometimes I think we get away from this when we're talking about sports. One thing that always matters more than anything else, in most cases, is ‘Can you ball?’”

Domonique Foxworth believes Tennessee is trying to reframe the story against Nico Iamaleava

Going by the insinuation of people at Tennessee, including Josh Heupel, on the fiasco, Nico Iamaleava held out for a massive review of his NIL contract. However, Dominique Foxworth believes it was a disagreement on values between the two parties.

“I think he's pretty good with some potential to be great but if he's great I think he can pull this move and it's fine. And I think Josh Heupel in Tennessee is trying to reframe this in a way.

“I don't know all of the details of the situation but it feels like he stopped answering their calls. He didn't show up to practice. They're framing this as a holdout that they decided not to deal with. When it feels like he said ‘Give me more money.’ They said, "You're not worth it.”

In his deal with Tennessee, Nico Iamaleava was said to earn $2.4 million annually. However, reports say the quarterback looked to improve that to around $4 million. The quarterback is now set to enter the transfer portal when it opens on Wednesday.