The NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed to modify the eligibility rules for the 2022 NFL Draft (Twitter links via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). Now, all players who have completed four years of college eligibility will be automatically eligible unless they opt out by February 4.
In essence, this will automatically count the 2020 season as credit towards draft eligibility, even if the player opted out. This way, NFL teams will have a clear picture of the draft pool early on in the draft process, eliminating questions about which players are actually up for grabs.
The 2022 NFL Draft will take place in Las Vegas from Apr. 28 — Apr. 30. Top prospects in the class include Oregon edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, Alabama offensive tackle Evan Nela, LSU cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., and, potentially, Liberty quarterback Malik Willis.
Still don’t understand why they have an “age” rule. If a player is that good, why shouldn’t he be eligible?
Because most people haven’t actually filled into their bodies by a certain age (17-21). The nfl doesn’t have a developmental league so you would be forced to roster someone that could get seriously injured playing with grown men.
You are exactly correct!!
Because the owners would end up getting screwed and they create the rules. People change a lot from 17/18 to 21/22. Owners don’t want to spend X million on a kid at 17 that may never see the field. If you look at high school rankings and follow those kids through college very rarely are the top high school players the top draft picks. MLB it happens all the time, pay a high school kid a big bonus and it doesn’t work out. For every Bryce Harper there’s 20 who never made it.
Yeah, talent is not everything. Teams want to see if the kids can handle the pressure of playing in front of 20k+ people and a national television audience.
Back to baseball: one of my old travel coaches was a minor league player and said the minors are full of people better than some of the ones in MLB but can’t handle the attention. (Positive and negative) Difference is who can handle the pressure and scrutiny in a lot of cases.
I imagine there’s a similar element jumping from high school football crowds to playing at Alabama or in the NFL. And now that college kids can get paid; pro teams will have a better idea of whether money might magnify behavioral problems too.
the maurice clarett and that usc wr fiascos are prime examples.
Does this mean that a true junior or a redshirt sophomore who wants to enter early CANT anymore? It was at 3 years you could enter. Not sure this explains that?
Has nothing to do with that, those players can still opt in to the draft. The article explains the guys that were on campus 4 years are automatically in unless they opt out of the draft. Teams can get a clearer picture of the draft class earlier without waiting to see if a kid will take advantage of that extra season coming their way.
I agree 100%. 18 year olds are adults and they should be able to choose between going to the workforce or school. I also agree that from being a freshman to a junior, your body is still developing, but that’s up to the team and player to decide.
You do realize that without a minor league one you become a professional and lose all eligibility to ever play college again. Press your luck at 18 never see a field (that’s how you show your skills) and get cut and now not have an education or a career. Although the system isn’t perfect it give these kids. Football in particular as there are so many roster spots. To get an education and still play. The only people I believe you are even referring to are the can’t miss studs. But how do they develop when they are 18 in the NFL. You have college can miss guys not do it.
To save these young dumb kids from themselves. Opt into the NBA draft and they can sit on you until you develop as well as putting you in the G league before flaming out and ending up overseas where you can have a long career. Opt in to the NFL draft and not be ready for it and there is nothing for you but a very small chance in Canada and nothing anywhere else.
So what? Many young adults will flame out, happens every year. But they should have the right to choose to go pro at 18. Heck college knows it’s so bad now, they are allowing the ‘student athletes’ get paid.
Because these young guys that are not ready will push out veterans who have been ready for years. The union will fight for the veteran members that have paid dues over the young unknown kids.
That’s a crock. If what you said were true, the draft would never exist. New blood pushing the older ones out is life.
And your comment is so ridiculous. A yearly draft occurs because every year new eligible talent is there, but speeding up their eligibility isn’t the NFL or NFLPAs problem.
Few players are can’t miss and ready to play in the pros coming out of highschool. You can’t ignore the physical aspect of the game so size/body development differences have to be taken into consideration here. Often times the “studs” in highschool look so good because they’re bigger, stronger, and faster than most of their peers. To a certain extent, that also applies to college players as we see plenty of guys look like studs because of their athleticism. But that athletic advantage is minimized in the pros when almost everybody else is just as big, strong, and/or fast as you if not more.
Not to mention the differences in fundamentals and schemes between highschool, college, and the pros. Football is really the only sport where I think players should be forced to go to college for at least some time. Besides the fact that their bodies are probably not physically ready for the pro game yet, I highly doubt their fundamentals and football-IQ is at a level where they are ready to play without some further development at a pre-professional level.
Early puberty/fast development is what separates the talents in high school. In college, bodies catch up and everyone has an adult male body by the time they graduate/flame out of college.
It used to be the pro hits were a calibre harder than in college so putting high school students in front Lawrence Taylor or Jack Tatum or Rod Woodson would just end up in career-ending hospitalisations. These days not so much but still…