- PayPal signed a multi-year deal with the NFL on April 21, 2026, becoming the league's first-ever official peer-to-peer payments partner.
- Top 2026 NFL Draft prospects Denzel Boston, Jeremiyah Love, and Carnell Tate were signed as rookie endorsers as part of PayPal's Draft activation.
- Love called the deal authentic, noting he has used PayPal since high school to split costs with friends, long before any NIL money was involved.
- PayPal will run fan sweepstakes throughout the NFL season awarding up to $1 million, with access to exclusive tickets, upgraded seating, and special experiences for P2P users.
PayPal made history on April 21, 2026, becoming the NFL’s official peer-to-peer payments partner in a groundbreaking multi-year deal, and they wasted no time putting fresh faces on it.
Wide receiver Denzel Boston, running back Jeremiyah Love, and wide receiver Carnell Tate are among the five incoming rookies signed as PayPal endorsers, activated ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh.
For Love, the deal is personal. He recalled splitting costs with friends via PayPal in high school, long before college NIL opportunities came knocking, calling the connection “already there” and “not anything forced.”
The former Notre Dame standout, who won the 2025 Doak Walker Award and was selected third overall by the Arizona Cardinals. He is riding a busy draft week, as covered in our piece on his Sharpie Rookie of the Year collaboration, where he co-created a limited-edition “Jeremonstar: Draft Day Ashcan” comic.
Carnell Tate, the fourth overall pick to the Tennessee Titans who also recently partnered with Snickers Ice Cream ahead of the Draft, adds more star power to PayPal’s rookie roster. He also holds active deals with Adidas, Crocs, and Buffalo Wild Wings.
Meanwhile, Boston, who led Washington in receptions, yards, and touchdowns in 2025 before landing with the Cleveland Browns at pick No. 39, brings major red-zone presence to the campaign.
For PayPal, this NFL deal marks a significant pivot in its sports marketing strategy. The brand previously ran its largest-ever U.S. advertising campaign in 2024 alongside comedian Will Ferrell, and followed up with a second major campaign in 2025 to promote PayPal Pay Later, and a PayPal Plus campaign in 2026.
PayPal also already powers payments for two of the nation’s biggest college conferences, making the NFL partnership a natural next step. PayPal’s P2P volume across PayPal and Venmo grew 7% in 2025, and the company brings over 430 million active accounts across 200 markets to the partnership.
Takeaways
This isn’t just a logo placement deal, PayPal is threading itself into the actual money habits of NFL fandom (splitting tickets, pooling travel cash, settling up after the game).
Using Draft-week rookies who genuinely grew up using the app is a smart authenticity play. Love’s comment about using PayPal before he “had NIL” is the kind of organic storytelling brands spend millions trying to manufacture.
It’s also telling that PayPal chose pre-draft rookies over established stars. These are athletes on the rise, and so is the narrative. Pairing that with a $1M fan sweepstakes and international reach through nine global NFL games creates a 360° campaign that goes well beyond the Draft stage in Pittsburgh.
With PayPal signing rookies before they’ve played a single NFL snap, does the risk of a bust hurt the brand or is that risk part of what makes it feel bold? With PayPal now embedded across both the NFL and major college conferences, how much of the sports payments space can one fintech brand realistically own?
