I’m not very familiar with the NFL draft, and this is probably a stupid question.
Assume a draft-eligible, blue-chip, “can’t miss” underclassman who is a consensus top-five pick.(e.g. Newton, Winston) but doesn’t want to play for the team(s) likely to draft him. He doesn’t declare for either the main or supplemental draft. Questions:
[ol]
[li]Can he be drafted?[/li][li]I presume he could not attend the combine(s), but could he simply leave college and join his preferred team as an invite/walk-on?[/li][li]Are there NFL rules governing rights to undrafted players that would apply?[/li][/ol]
Leaving aside whether or not this is a good idea (probably not), is it allowable within the NFL/CBA framework?
Yes, he can be drafted. It’s not a draft like the Army, he won’t be forced to play. But if he does play in the NFL it has to be with the team that owns his rights, which is the team that drafted him.
He doesn’t have to attend the combine. If he leaves his college team and does not declare for the draft, the right to have his contract if he joins the NFL is held by whatever team drafts him. He cannot join an NFL team if another team holds his rights.
Players who declare for the draft, yet go undrafted, can sign with whichever team they wish. If a blue chip prospect says he won’t sign with a team and then goes undrafted, he’ll be free to play with whomever he wishes. However, it is highly unlikely that a phenomenal player, a can’t miss prospect, will go undrafted, no matter the amount of whining and crying he does before the draft.
Think you’re incorrect on this as the question was asked. He specifically called out that the player is an underclassman and does not declare for the draft.
In the case where he’s an underclassman and does not declare:
No, he cannot be drafted. Only players who declare and/or are seniors can be drafted. Senior may have to declare too…not sure if they are auto-enrolled or not.
If you do not declare, then no you won’t be invited to the combine. The combine is invite only.
Yes, but again those rules only apply when a player declares and goes undrafted. In this case he’s an underclassman and undeclared and therefore still has college eligibility and will typically return to college.
However, you CANNOT choose not to declare for the draft and then choose to enter as a free agent at a later date. In this scenario they’d be held out of the league and ineligible until the following year when they would become draft eligible.
This is correct. You have to declare for the NFL draft, unlike other sports where any eligible player can be drafted. If you miss the draft filing deadline or your circumstances change such that you want to be eligible to play in the NFL you can enter the supplimental draft.
eta I’m pretty sure even seniors have to declare. See the whole Bernie Kosar draft situation.
One post-edit window addendum: If a player is enrolled in the draft, regardless of if they are a Junior or a Senior, and they refuse to play for the team that drafts them they do not become a free agent. The team that drafts them holds their rights and has all year to try and sign them and convince them to play, if they fail that player is re-inserted into the following years draft. There really isn’t a scenario where a drafted player can say “I don’t want to play for you” and then pick his own team.
I think if an underclassman did not declare for the draft, then left his team over the summer after the NFL draft, he would be entered in a supplemental draft. Here is an explanation from SBnation:
IIRC Kosar hit the books and graduated from Miami a semester early, but after the NFL draft declaration cutoff date. Even though he had athletic eligibility left, that made him eligible for the supplemental draft. He had made clear his distaste for signing with anyone but Cleveland, and that’s who drafted him.
A supplemental draft pick, btw, uses the corresponding pick from the next regular draft, but it gets you the player a year early.
You’re right, Kosar did have eligibility left. He said he was leaving for the NFL but purposely missed the draft declaration deadline - even after an extension was granted specifically to him - so that he could enter the supplemental draft where Cleveland had the 1st pick, which they got from Buffalo in a trade. Other teams were pissed that Kosar and the Browns manipulated the system so that he could go to his hometown team.
I thought he used up his eligibility and then orchestrated that whole scenario but I stand corrected.
Thank you for the replies. It sounds like the concept of declaring for the draft is unique to college underclassmen; specifically, waiving remaining college eligibility in order to qualify for early draft consideration. I presume non-college players (rare as they might be), seniors, graduates, Australian rugby players, etc. are all eligible by virtue of either playing out their eligibility or having none to consider (assuming they are old enough, etc.).
This is the crux of my question: how does one become an undrafted free-agent? If I understand you correctly, once eligible for the draft (by declaring as an underclassman or by default), you must remain unselected through one draft before you are considered a free-agent, else, whoever drafts you owns your rights for one year.
I’m actually curious what options are available to players with no college eligibility remaining. I don’t know if they have to declare for the draft or not. If not, can they go to an open tryout? This article is kind of fuzzy on the NFL’S open tryout system.
This is correct. Undrafted free agents are players whose names weren’t called during the draft for their senior class (or the draft for which they declared). Once the final pick of that draft is made, they are free to sign with any team. And, in fact, the moment that the draft concludes, teams scramble to sign UFAs in which they’re interested, and many UFAs have the “luxury” of having multiple offers from which to select.
Players who come to the NFL from other countries (such as Jarryd Hayne, the Australian rugby player who’s in the 49ers’ camp this summer, the several Australian football players who have been punters in the NFL, or, further back, the European soccer players who became placekickers in the 1960s and 1970s) tend to be able to sign with the team of their choice, since they typically are entering the league years after they would have, in theory, been eligible for the NFL draft.
Great find. There is a link to the NFL eligibility rules (warning: PDF) on that page.which provides a good overview. A graduating student does not have to declare and is automatically draft eligible. Other automatic eligibility occurs when:
[ul]
[li]A student exhausts college football eligibility.[/li][li]Five years elapse since beginning college.[/li][/ul]
Non-collegians must wait four years after high school, and can apply for an exemption after three much like underclassman who declare early. Various special circumstances (e.g. early graduation) are covered as well.
Regarding your (and my original) question, Omniscient and kenobi 65 are correct:
[QUOTE=The NFL] ELIGIBLE PLAYER NOT SELECTED. A draft-eligible player who is not selected in a principal or supplemental draft is a free agent and may be signed by any club in the League, provided, however, that if such player returns to college to play football, he is subject to the appropriate provisions in GENERAL RULES OF ELIGIBILITY, REPEATED ELIGIBILITY, and/or COLLEGE AND NFL IN SAME SEASON above.
[/QUOTE]
So, they get a crack at drafting you before you become a free agent.