To some surprise, LSU coach Les Miles admitted this week that some players are ready to go to the NFL after only one year of college football. To no surprise, the NFL isn’t thinking about dumping the current rule preventing players fewer than three years removed from high school from entering the draft.
Despite Miles’ admission, the league bases its position in part on its belief that the physical, mental, and emotional demands of pro football would make it nearly impossible for someone to have success in the NFL at an earlier age.
Even so, why should 18-year-old men be prohibited from pursuing gainful employment? If the player wants to try to play pro football after only two years, one year, or no years of college, he should be allowed to try. If he fails (and in turn squanders the chance to play college football), it’s his right to do so.
The more accurate reason for the NFL’s position is that the league wants to protect its free farm system. The three-year rule forces players to play college football. Which keeps college football coaches happy, by preventing the NFL from pilfering a work force that gets only room, board, tuition, and snacks in return for extensive efforts and physical sacrifices.
It makes the league complicit in the exploitation of college football players, ensuring that they have no choice but to spend three years playing for (mostly) free.
If a player is willing to choose to try to play professional football instead of college football, he should be allowed to do it, regardless of whether three years have passed since he graduated from high school. The NFL isn’t protecting the player from himself; the NFL is protecting itself against a revolt from college coaches, who would shut down access to practices and other important information relevant to the process of screening players who are eligible for the draft.
Regardless, the rule isn’t changing. It’s legal and enforceable, made part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement after the Maurice Clarett lawsuit was filed. And the union has no incentive to change the rule, since doing so potentially would take jobs away from players already in the league.
