Brandon Spikes says he took a pay cut going from Florida to NFL
By Jake Faigus
Published:
The Florida Gators were a powerhouse in the mid-2000s under Urban Meyer. He was there from 2005 to 2010 and won two national championships. However, the most significant storylines with his Florida teams were all the stuff off the field. It was supposedly crazy, and one of the team’s leaders back then was Brandon Spikes.
During some recent activity on X (formerly Twitter), in a now-deleted post, Spikes stated that he took a “pay cut” once he got into the NFL, compared to what he was making at Florida. The North Carolina native was a key piece of the Florida defense as a tone-setter.
Despite being deleted, this revelation is unsurprising because many players were paid under the table before NIL was legalized. However, the biggest key to what he said is that he made less money in the NFL as a second-round draft pick for the New England Patriots than he made during college.
Spikes started 39 games for the Gators and appeared in 47 total games. During his time in Gainesville, he had 307 total tackles in his career, with 178 being solos, and 31.5 for loss, including 6.5 sacks. He forced two fumbles, recovered four, and had six interceptions, which he returned for 139 total yards and four touchdowns.
This is the cherry on top for a period of Florida football widely known for having a team full of issues. The fact that players were getting paid a lot of money illegally is not surprising and makes sense given how much talent was on those rosters.
