The Blue Board

Oh I know it would lessen college football......But the point is, the NCAA/NFL shouldn't be allowed to tell a player he can't make money using his talents because he is too young. It's ridiculous.

If there is a NFL team willing to pay someone, let them.

I know I certainly couldn't fault him. If he takes a year off to simply train constantly, who can blame him? He risks the loss of millions of dollars every time he steps on the field, and what does he get in return? Practically nothing.

Personally, I don't think the 3-year rule should be repealed, but I don't think anyone could really fault Clowney for wanting to protect himself. I hope, at the very least, that he has an insurance policy out on himself.

Lattimore got hurt twice and is still gonna make millions. Might not get drafted as high, but he will be fine

No, it's about player safety. Some cocky high school player or college frosh might think he could go to the pro's, but physically he is not ready. 99% of those players would be put at serious risk for injury.

Sure, there are physical freaks like Clowney that come around every now and then, but it's rare. If the NFL makes a rule that would allow freshman or high school seniors to go pro, it would be good for the 1% of players that are physical freaks, but it would put the other 99% of idiots who think they are good enough for the NFL at risk for serious injuries.

Now that would be interesting. I wonder what the NFL would look like and how many players they would have?

Agreed, but at least try to give our youth some education even though the last thing these football players are getting is a real education in most cases

I just look at what has done to the NBA, and it isn't a good thing imo

The effect on college football would be bad, I would probably stop following the sport altogether

That is a terrible reason fwiw, the players are slaves and basically you are saying until the owner of the slave gets his money back or makes his profit, the slave isn't able to leave

Then don't play.

Go play in the CFL or train on you own. In college they have access to top notch coaching/training/facilities. Also these kids are getting a free education....Ask people who have a ton of student loan debt how valuable that is.

People get hung up on the free education thing. That's a PC way of the Universities saying " you come play for us and let us use you for the universities benefit and in turn we will cover the monetary cost ". 95% of The universities benefit far more from a successful FB program than they do any academic accolades the school gets. They know that. On any given Saturday there is potentially millions of people that are exposed to the school name on tv. And on top of that the school gets paid to be on tv. It's like getting paid to run a 3 hour add for your school. Look at the enrollment numbers at schools that have been down in FB and then become good. The enrollment goes up as the success on the field goes up.

For once. I agree with you. The mere suggestion of this is clownish (no pun intended). On top of that, if you're as good of a player as he is. how in the hell could you sit out for a year & watch everyone else play? I'm waaaayyyy too competitive to even consider sitting out my final year of college football, not too mention it would be one of the most selfish things you could do. NFL teams would be turned off despite his unbelievable talents. I'm not saying he would fall far, but I wouldn't draft a kid that pulled a stunt like this no matter how god damn good he was.

If they don't want to do it, they don't have to.

It's that simple. There are hundreds of thousands of kids who grow up dreaming of playing a certain school that would gladly take their place.

Like I said, the University is providing them with the platform and the tools they need to get to the NFL in addition to the free education.

Also if kids would actually take advantage of the educational opportunities given to them, maybe you wouldn't see all of these stories about athletes going broke.....

No, I don't know what the right solution is

But to act like these players aren't getting boned is just nuts

And acting like an education is good enough payment doesn't cut the turkey imo

Hell most of the degrees they get are total bullcrap, and I know a few employers that wouldn't hire a football player in most cases cause they know the degree was more than likely handed to them just for showing up to class and sleeping the entire time

that joke is so 2009