As things currently stand, eligible college football players have to declare for the NFL Draft or decide to stay in school by mid-January. It’s a binding decision -- once a player declares, he has to go through the draft process, even if he’s not selected. Maybe an injury crops up in before the NFL Combine and he can’t participate in that event.
But SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, in talking to The Sporting News’ Matt Hayes, wouldn’t rule out an expanded policy to allow players to return to school after declaring for the NFL Draft, as is the case with the NBA and college basketball.
There are plenty of reasons why this would seem to make sense. It’d help the NCAA’s image, for one, which hasn’t exactly been shone in a positive light recently. More importantly, though, if players were allowed to return to school after declaring for the draft -- let’s say after the NFL Combine in late February -- we may not see so many players go undrafted with eligibility still remaining.
The NFL Draft Advisory Board only gives out three grades: First round, second round and a recommendation to stay in school. That’s the only outside analysis players are afforded when deciding whether or not to declare, and it’s generally ambiguous and is delivered sometime in December, five months before the draft.
Even if a player gets that stay-in-school recommendation, there’s still plenty of money in being a third or fourth-round pick and solidly being on an NFL roster. There’s plenty of risk, too, in declaring early, getting to the combine and being told you’re more like a sixth- or seventh-round pick, if that.
The safe bet for players in that situation would be to stay in school. But why not afford them an opportunity to work out in front of NFL teams in Indianapolis and decide after that?
Of course, there are roadblocks. Hayes points out scholarship restrictions -- the NFL Combine is held a few weeks after signing day in February, and having a player or two’s status up in the air could create massive headaches for coaches trying to complete a recruiting class. Bleacher Report’s Barrett Sallee, in talking to a recently undrafted underclassmen, points out the general awkwardness that’d come with returning after declaring.
And what happens to these players after they declare? Plenty of them head to Florida or Arizona or somewhere well off campus to train, but if the possibility of returning to school existed, wouldn’t they have to remain enrolled and remain on campus?
It wouldn’t be an easy fix. But for football’s sake, both at the college and pro level, it’s a step in the right direction this discussion is even being had.
