XFL will consider taking players before eligible for the NFL Draft

[Tunescribe]

As I mentioned, lots of full-contact sports, like rugby, allow younger players to play at the highest level. So players are ready physically. As for mentally, come on, that has to be the obvious less demanding task, clearly. There are Chess GMs at 13 and by 17-18 they are competing for world championships.

I seriously doubt that teens are physically equipped to go up against people in their twenties/thirties who've been training and "tweaking" (scientifically) for years at the NFL level. Also, playing pro football requires a highly refined skill set they wouldn't have had time to develop. And by mentally I was referring to the fact that it's not just the sport itself but all that goes along with it -- travel, social pressures, managing money, etc. Kids just aren't mature enough for any of that.

 

[FCB02062]

This has nothing to do with 2-3 years of "college education"...and has everything with physical maturity and putting on weight. Some of these DBs/receivers come in as 140 lb freshman....picture a 5'8' 150 pound 18 year old corner fielding a punt and getting hit head on full speed by 6 foot 220 lb Nate Ebner....

 

[1960Pats]

The tricky part is that football just isn't like those other sports. A 1st-year-out-of-HS superstar basketball player like Zion Williamson could play in the NBA tomorrow and be a legit starter (assuming he wasn't wearing the Nike exploding shoes that is). Furthermore, those other sports just don't have the same injury risk in situations where a player does join before he is ready.

I don't believe there are any corresponding NCAA freshman who could just join the NFL right now and excel. Yes I know everyone is high on Trevor Lawrence but the idea that he is NFL ready right now (let alone 4 months ago) is ridiculous. Spending another couple years in the minor leagues - uh I mean playing college football - is in his own best interest.

The problem is the incredibly corrupt system which is the NCAA. Sometimes I think the best solution would be to make the Power-5 Conferences officially an NFL minor league system where an NFL team could draft a player, sign him, pay him, and have him go to college to play. Unfortunately the NCAA has to maintain the pretense that these star athletes actually are there to learn.

This is why I support the efforts of Pacific Pro Football, which is for 18-21 year old kids. If that get's going they might be able to put a small dent in the NCAA.

 

[Simpelton]

There is no reason for NFL to wait to induct players till they are 21 or 22 years old. Other full-contact sports, like Rugby, don't need to have these restrictions. Young rugby can debut below age 20 and recently some 18 year old joined England's team.

Except that 21-22 is when the brain more or less finishes growing and developing in an adult human. If you have to pick a point to allow full contact at an elite NFL level, waiting until their melon is fully ripe isn't a terrible way to do it.

 

[Pessimistic Pete]

This has nothing to do with 2-3 years of "college education"...and has everything with physical maturity and putting on weight. Some of these DBs/receivers come in as 140 lb freshman....picture a 5'8' 150 pound 18 year old corner fielding a punt and getting hit head on full speed by 6 foot 220 lb Nate Ebner....

Such a guy wouldn't get drafted.

There are 18 year olds who are big/strong enough to play in the NFL, they would get drafted.

 

[Biffins]

I seriously doubt that teens are physically equipped to go up against people in their twenties/thirties who've been training and "tweaking" (scientifically) for years at the NFL level. Also, playing pro football requires a highly refined skill set they wouldn't have had time to develop. And by mentally I was referring to the fact that it's not just the sport itself but all that goes along with it -- travel, social pressures, managing money, etc. Kids just aren't mature enough for any of that.

What are you talking about man?

Tennis players stay on the circuit and travel the whole world all year. Serena Williams went pro at age 13 in 1995 and went on the full WTA tour from age 15 in 1997 and won her first grand slam US Open in 1999 at age 17. She's been on the road (travel, social pressures, managing money and all that jazz) for 24 years. She's 37 now and still going. She just got to last year's US Open final 20 years after she won it. Don't tell people they're not ready since YOU think they're not ready.

Compared to all that, staying and practicing in one city all year and travelling 8 times a year for the weekend for road games is literally nothing.

Come on!

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

Such a guy wouldn't get drafted.

There are 18 year olds who are big/strong enough to play in the NFL, they would get drafted.

And as I said earlier in the thread, there would be many more 18 year olds convinced by bad advice that they too are ready to play in the NFL that wouldn't get drafted.

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

What are you talking about man?

Tennis players stay on the circuit and travel the whole world all year. Serena Williams went pro at age 13 in 1995 and went on the full WTA tour from age 15 in 1997 and won her first grand slam US Open in 1999 at age 17. She's been on the road (travel, social pressures, managing money and all that jazz) for 24 years. She's 37 now and still going. She just got to last year's US Open final 20 years after she won it. Don't tell people they're not ready since YOU think they're not ready.

Compared to all that, staying and practicing in one city all year and travelling 8 times a year for the weekend for road games is literally nothing.

Come on!

Except Serena wasn't out on her own and managing her money at the age of 13.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I see that argument ... yet NCAA basketball has survived very well.

NCAA Men's Division 1 basketball is a shell of what it was 30 years ago.

I've heard that a primary reason for this rule change is to take significant pressure off of the NCAA schools to pay basketball players with the valid argument that if they want to be paid, they should join a pro league. Of course, they can do that today, just not the NBA.

Personally, I'd love to see a rule that requires you to either make yourself eligible for the draft after high school or to wait 2 years. That would benefit everyone - the athletes, the schools and the NBA. But I doubt that would ever happen and this rule change pretty much nixes that possibility.