I was also told that NIL was established to compensate athletes for the use of their NAME, IMAGE, and LIKENESS.
But somehow lots of players are getting big $$$'s without having any of these attributes being marketed. I highly doubt the majority of OL's with 2k followers on social media are being featured in advertisements or have a demand in the 1000's for shirts with their name on it.
It reeks of the money laundering activities that are done through the sale of trivial paintings, etc. for huge $'s.
It's essentially become equivalent of the "jobs" that were given to athletes back in the 80s, e.g. making $100k as a car salesman during the summer break. Of course, we all knew this was going to happen.