Some bizarre NFL and college football history could be made soon, and not everyone’s happy about it.
Former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quan Wright was on track to become the first player to play college football after being rostered by an NFL team following his release from the Cleveland Browns this week. But as he was set to join head coach Lane Kiffin at LSU, Wright and several other college athletes learned on Tuesday that the SEC would be joining the Big Ten in disallowing players who had already signed an NFL contract from playing in their conferences.
Wright was among 16 former college football players who sued the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility and were granted a temporary restraining order that would allow them to play college football in 2026. That order allowed opportunistic college head coaches, like Kiffin, to explore adding players signed to NFL contracts to their rosters in recent weeks.
While college head coaches and conference administrators are starting to make their feelings known on the matter, how are people around the NFL reacting to players potentially returning to play the collegiate game? Here’s what we learned from some of our conversations with people around the league.
Scout: NCAA Has To ‘Get Their S— Together’
Ralph Vacchiano: The recent news that some NFL players will potentially be allowed to return to college football this season did not go over well in NFL circles. And it only added to their confusion over what is currently happening in the NCAA.
“They really have to get their s— together,” one NFL scout told me. “It feels like they’re the Wild Wild West and the rules are changing every day.”
The recent one could be the most confusing. It was sparked by court rulings in Colorado and Louisiana that appear to allow NFL players who entered college in 2022 to return to school for a fifth year of eligibility in the NCAA. To add to the confusion, the Big Ten went against the courts and banned players from returning from the NFL. The SEC announced it opposed the rulings, but wouldn’t stand in the players’ way.
Dae’Quan Wright spent training camp with the Eagles and Browns before agreeing to join Lane Kiffin at LSU. (Photo by Terence Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It’s unclear if any other conferences will join the Big Ten and the SEC. But the courts probably haven’t had their final say on the matter yet, which is why the NFL is bracing for an even bigger mess.
“All that NIL money was bad enough. It basically wiped out the talent in the later rounds of the draft because too many marginal players could afford to stay in school,” the scout told me. “But now we’re going to have guys who would’ve stayed on the practice squad leaving too? We’ll spend 3-4 months investing in their growth, developing them as a player, only to watch them go back to LSU?”
“It all looks bad,” an NFL executive told me by text. “But we don’t know where all this is going yet. It feels like just the beginning of a really big mess.”
Not Everyone In The NFL Is Sounding The Alarm, Though
Eric D. Williams: The situation surrounding Wright and over a dozen other players has caused some to panic about the future of college football. However, not everyone in the NFL is worried about the recent court rulings and whether this will cause more players to return to college.
One NFL agent pointed out to me that what’s happening this summer is likely a one-time thing due to the NCAA’s new eligibility rules.
Former FSU QB Thomas Castellanos is among the former college football players who could benefit from a rules loophole. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
“It only applies to this tiny group of players this year who made a decision prior to the rule change,” the NFL agent told me. “It would never apply again because any other player in the future would make whatever decision they made after the college season based on the 5/5 rule, if it stays in effect.
“So, this really isn’t a long-term issue. It’s a one-off, so the NFL won’t and shouldn’t care about these few guys who weren’t making teams to begin with. These are the only players the ruling applies to – players who under the new rules would be eligible to play college in 2026 that under the old rules would not have been eligible. That’s it. A player at the end of 2026 who has a fifth year can decide to take it or not, and if he doesn’t and goes to the NFL, why would he get his eligibility back? He made the decision to leave knowing he had a year left. No different than a true junior leaving with two years left.”
Players can regain their college eligibility if they terminate their pro contract and repay any pro earnings. A handful of other players in this year’s draft class could benefit from this new ruling, like Wright. However, that loophole will be closed for the 2027 draft class and beyond.
What To Make Of Players Returning To CFB
Williams: If players wind up returning to college after signing with NFL teams, that also begs the question about what their future draft status will be.
Jack Pyburn, who is now with the Buccaneers, is among the players considering a return to college. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
No one seems to know what the NFL will do yet about the draft eligibility of those specific players. But an NFL scout told me league evaluators will have to reevaluate the prospects, while proposing an idea for the league on how to handle the situation.
“You have to reevaluate them because they will be getting more reps to develop and grade, similar to getting reps in the UFL or CFL,” a longtime NFL scout told me. “If they like them, then they should be considered as a street free agent to sign if they were previously in an NFL camp. That’s how the NFL should handle it in my eyes.”
