The pre-draft process will see a noticeable tweak beginning in 2024. Three postseason all-star games will soon be allowed to extend invites to draft-eligible underclassmen.
The NFL announced Wednesday it will permit underclassmen to play in the Senior Bowl and other pre-draft showcases, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com notes. While “Senior Bowl” will carry less meaning, the East-West Shrine Bowl and HBCU Legacy Bowl will also be permitted to extend invites to non-senior players. These changes will be effective immediately.
In addition to the actual games, players use the practices to showcase their skills for NFL personnel. The Senior Bowl’s practices are a prime scouting event annually, bringing all 32 teams’ staffs to Mobile, Ala. Wednesday’s announcement will change how those rosters are constructed, likely taking spots away from seniors, with the fringe Mobile candidates potentially needing to play in the lower-tier all-star games. As InsidetheLeague.com’s Neil Stratton offers, the NFL effectively only endorsing three all-star events will negatively impact the Hula Bowl and the other round of all-star games. Those Alabama-based workouts, however, will likely generate more buzz due to the caliber of prospects that will be eligible for invites.
Players who have been out of high school for three years are draft-eligible, meaning this will impact juniors and redshirt sophomores. With the NCAA’s COVID-19 policy extending an additional year of college eligibility to players in school during the pandemic, NFL draft classes have seen an uptick of mid-20-somethings in recent years. That era winding down stands to return rookie classes to their usual age range, though the NIL development and the transfer portal have given players more appealing options to stay in school for their senior seasons.
But the opportunity to compete against top competition at Senior Bowl practice will be a draw for underclassmen, who previously only had the Combine and their respective pro days as official venues to change their pre-draft stock. Sixty-nine juniors entered this year’s draft, per ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter, doing so without any all-star game opportunities. It will be interesting to see the Senior Bowl’s roster makeup in 2024. Per usual, several of the top prospects in the upcoming class are draft-eligible juniors. This includes top QBs Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, whose Senior Bowl workouts — should the USC and North Carolina prospects choose to participate — will be highly anticipated.
Not sure if this is a good thing. Most players who go to the Senior Bowl are players who could benefit from extra exposure; most wunderkind players leave after three years in the NCAA. Anyone staying behind already had something to prove in all likelihood. Taking spots to give them away to players with another year of eligibility seems like the NFL is taking from the group who needed it more, even if it allows them to work in a greater pool of talent.
The biggest advantage, by far, that these games provide is the ability for NFL staffs to work with the players and see up close what they like or dislike about them. On the players’ end, it gives them familiarity about how the NFL works in general, and how some coaches work very specifically. That’s a good advantage later in talking to those staffs or if the player’s name comes up in free agency. Maybe the NFL should have instead just designated one bowl for third year players, and left the Senior Bowl for seniors, if they wanted to work in more players.
I guess the Senior Bowl is some kind of all star game but the players involved are only all stars because they faced half a dozen cupcake opponents during the season. Any random week you can find about a dozen or more college games where one team is favored by 28 points or more. Who is benefitting from these absurd matchups? The NCAA should scrap the division setup entirely and have a tier arrangement where games can at least be competitive. No more ludicrous games like Campbell Fighting Camels challenging North Carolina.
Great comment, Ak185. The Senior Bowl was one of the big showcases held out to players who finished their college education. As you point out, the hot stars leaving as juniors or even after sophomore seasons don’t need another showcase.
So the NFL is further undercutting college football. The NFL seems determined to do as much damage to pro players (no pre-season, 17 games, Thursday night games) and college football as possible. Pretty short-sighted policies.
Less skill+more penalties=more scoring. Generally speaking. That’s my working theory.
I have no working theories. They all break down on implementation…but I’m working on a theory about that.