# NFL Q? Can a college player choose which team he wants to play for? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 28, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976 "2012-08-28T23:36:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/21 "2012-08-29T15:44:42Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Eli Manning isn’t an example of refusing to sign with a team. _ **Before the draft** _ he told the media that he didn’t want to play for the Chargers (the team with the first round pick). But the Chargers drafted him anyway because they had made a deal with the Giants to trade them Manning’s rights before Manning ever had a chance to refuse to sign with them. There was no deal in place when the Chargers picked Manning (otherwise the two teams would’ve just traded draft picks instead of waiting to trade players). I _believe_ that there was no deal when the Giants drafted Rivers, either, but I’m a little less confident about that. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/22 "2012-08-29T15:53:40Z")
Even though I’m a Giants fan who likes Eli Manning, I always thought he was nuts! I mean, he had a choice between playing in San Diego (where the fans and media are mellow and the weather is always perfect) or in the Meadowlands, where it’s frigid and rainy come November, and where the fans and media are brutal when you don’t succeed. As #1 overall draft pick, El iwas going to be rich regardless- why not be rich in Southern California?? Bottom line, though: I don’t think the Giants, Steelers OR Chargers have any reason to regret the quarterbacks they ended up with that year. Eli, Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger have ALL turned out as well as their teams could have hoped for. And the Chargers managed to get BOTH Rivers AND Shaun Merriman for Eli. Happy ending all around. ---
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/23 "2012-08-29T16:10:40Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > As #1 overall draft pick, El iwas going to be rich regardless- why not be rich in Southern California?? Lured by the even richer endorsement deals in New York city. For the cream of the crop salary is just the rainy day money. They can make as much or more per year in endorsements. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/24 "2012-08-29T16:18:23Z")
Can a player opt out of the draft? Much is said about underclassmen formally declaring for the draft (thus terminating their college eligibility), which suggests that a player has to take some positive step to join the pool of draftable players. Is this also true of players whose college eligibility has simply run out? I can’t recall any instances of any player doing this, which suggests to me that either (a) it’s not permitted or (b) the consequences of doing so are undesireable, so nobody _wants_ to do it. Or, © it happens all the time and I’m an inattentive dolt who hasn’t noticed. My initial guess for (b) is that a player who is “undrafted”, even if his undrafted-ness was by his own choice, would be looking at a rookie contract orders of magnitude smaller than that of a top pick. Is that really true, though? Would an “undrafted” Andrew Luck really have had difficulty finding a team willing to pay him big bucks? Such thoughts lead me back to option (a): if that’s true, by what mechanism is it enforced? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/25 "2012-08-29T16:48:41Z")
> **[How to Videos, Articles & More - Discover the expert in you. | ehow.com](https://www.ehow.com)** > > Learn how to do just about everything at ehow. Find expert advice along with How To videos and articles, including instructions on how to make, cook, grow, or do almost anything. > [@](#): > > Football players who have been out of high school for at least three years are eligible for the NFL draft. The rules do not state that a player must attend college, but virtually all of the players selected in the NFL draft played college football. A year as a “redshirt” player in college counts toward eligibility even though the player was not allowed to participate in games during that year. Therefore players who have completed their redshirt sophomore year can enter the NFL draft. A few players are also selected from other football leagues like the Arena Football League or the Canadian Football League. There is a process for declaring intent to join the draft before you college eligibility is used up - [http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-17/sports/30634322\_1\_nfl-draft-sports-business-sports-agent-blog](http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-17/sports/30634322_1_nfl-draft-sports-business-sports-agent-blog) I don’t know if everyone who uses up their NCAA college football eligibility is automatically entered into the draft. If you weren’t in the draft lists there are other supplemental drafts that you’d have to go through first before you could be an undrafted player. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/26 "2012-08-29T17:03:12Z")
Ah, OK. Thanks. Would it be accurate to say, then, that a potential rookie player must pass through at least some variety of draft (regular, supplemental, who-knows-what) unclaimed before teams can sign him as a free agent? How about me? I’m 41 years old and have not played football since junior high school. If I suddenly developed freakish placekicking skills, could the Dallas Cowboys just sign me up, or would I need to enter a supplemental draft first? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/27 "2012-08-29T17:05:45Z")
> [@brad\_d](#): > > Would it be accurate to say, then, that a potential rookie player must pass through at least some variety of draft (regular, supplemental, who-knows-what) unclaimed before teams can sign him as a free agent? Yes. I was thinking the same thing, that a player could just not declare for the draft then sign with whoever they want, but it turns out you cannot become an “Undrafted Free Agent” until you are actually undrafted. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/28 "2012-08-29T17:29:33Z")
There’s the story of Kelly Stouffer, who happened to be the St. Louis Cardinals’ last first-round pick (#6 overall) before the team moved to Arizona. The [Wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Stouffer)says Stouffer and the Cardinals weren’t able to agree on a contract. In fact, Stouffer said he didn’t want to play for the Cardinals, period, and wouldn’t sign. He sat out the entire 1987 season. Just before the 1988 draft, when their rights would have expired, the Cardinals traded Stouffer to Seattle, where he got off to a promising start, then was injured and faded away. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/29 "2012-08-29T17:41:04Z")
> [@brad\_d](#): > > If I suddenly developed freakish placekicking skills, could the Dallas Cowboys just sign me up, or would I need to enter a supplemental draft first? You’d have to sign up for the regular draft so all the teams get a chance at you. There is a supplemental draft, but it’s not really for this kind of situation. It’s more for kids who weren’t initially draft eligible and petition for draft eligibility for any of a number of reasons (not eligible in following college season being the usual one). If you make it through a draft without getting drafted by any of the teams, you can sign onto any team that wants you as an undrafted free agent. Actually, after the regular draft, most teams call up a bunch of undrafted kids and try to sign them up and maintain good sized lists of athletes they don’t necessarily want to waste a pick on but may still have value. The free agents are free to sign (or not sign) with anybody at that point. Most, of course, don’t end up on a team, but there are quite a few who do well. Off the top of my head, both Cameron Wake and Arian Foster went undrafted and are stars on their respective teams. Wes Welker also went undrafted and signed with the Chargers. They dropped him, leading him to bigger and better with New England (though not so much these days with his contract negotiations). ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/30 "2012-08-29T17:53:57Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Actually, after the regular draft, most teams call up a bunch of undrafted kids and try to sign them up and maintain good sized lists of athletes they don’t necessarily want to waste a pick on but may still have value. The free agents are free to sign (or not sign) with anybody at that point. And it’s not like they have their pick of _any_ team; rarely, if ever, is there any kind of bidding war for a particular player’s services. While a player may get offers from a few teams, in the vast majority of cases they’re going to quickly sign with the first team that calls and consider themselves lucky to have a shot at making a roster. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/31 "2012-08-29T18:19:27Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Off the top of my head, both Cameron Wake and Arian Foster went undrafted and are stars on their respective teams. Wes Welker also went undrafted and signed with the Chargers. They dropped him, leading him to bigger and better with New England (though not so much these days with his contract negotiations). Wake is an interesting story…he was undrafted in 2005, signed as an undrafted free agent with the Giants right after the draft, but apparently was cut by them before even going to training camp. I’m guessing he bounced around on tryouts, but never stuck, and went up to the CFL in 2007. He played two years with the BC Lions, and won a ton of awards up there (Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, etc.). He was able to parlay that into a bunch of NFL tryouts in 2009, and signed with the Dolphins, where he made All-Pro in 2010. After getting cut by the Chargers (after one game), Welker caught on with the Dolphins, who eventually traded him to the Patriots, where he became a star. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/32 "2012-08-29T19:50:13Z")
The Chargers are pretty much the kings of the UDFA (Undrafted Free Agents). To name a few - Kris Dielman, Malcom Floyd, Stephen Cooper, Steve Gregory, Jacques Cesaire, Kassim Osgood, Mike Tolbert, and, oh yeah, Antonio Gates. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/33 "2012-08-29T20:18:25Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Although Jim Everett did the same thing again only a few years later to the Oilers, with much the same result, and I don’t think he had another sport to fall back on. On the other hand, a year or two after Elway, Bo Jackson did the same thing with Tampa Bay, who decided not to trade him, thus effectively getting nothing for the #1 overall draft pick. IIRC, the main problem was that Jackson, like Elway, was also a star baseball player, but Jackson’s “demand” was that whatever team drafted him let him play pro baseball as well, which affected Tampa Bay’s ability to trade him. Eventually, he never signed with Tampa Bay, went into the next year’s draft, and was drafted in a later round by the Raiders, who were willing to let him play baseball (and who, IIRC, ended up winning a Super Bowl not long after that). One question: does the one-year rule apply if you play in the same sport in another league? Doesn’t the NBA have a rule where a player who is drafted but decides to play pro basketball in, say, Europe, isn’t eligible for the draft again for a number of years? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/34 "2012-08-29T21:00:59Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > On the other hand, a year or two after Elway, Bo Jackson… never signed with Tampa Bay, went into the next year’s draft, and was drafted in a later round by the Raiders, who were willing to let him play baseball (and who, IIRC, ended up winning a Super Bowl not long after that)… Jackson was still at Auburn when the Raiders last won a Super Bowl. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/35 "2012-08-29T22:09:26Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > One question: does the one-year rule apply if you play in the same sport in another league? Doesn’t the NBA have a rule where a player who is drafted but decides to play pro basketball in, say, Europe, isn’t eligible for the draft again for a number of years? For first round players, teams own a player’s draft rights for three years, with a team option for a fourth year. The clock doesn’t start running until the player actually signs an NBA contract, though - so in the case of a player who refuses to sign, the team retains his rights until it trades them. The draft rights to second round players, however, are only good for a year. The Orlando Magic still own the rights to Fran Vasquez, who they drafted in 2005, and who decided to stay in the Spanish _Liga ACB_. In baseball, players refusing to sign with the teams that draft them is pretty frequent (lots of them choose college rather than go to a loaded farm system, for example) so draft rights are only good until the following July 15 (basically, until a few weeks before the next draft for which they are eligible). ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/36 "2012-08-29T22:28:36Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Yes. I was thinking the same thing, that a player could just not declare for the draft then sign with whoever they want, but it turns out you cannot become an “Undrafted Free Agent” until you are actually undrafted. So those movies where pro teams have open tryouts are not documentaries? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/37 "2012-08-29T23:56:55Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > So those movies where pro teams have open tryouts are not documentaries? Well, I looked up the movie I was thinking of, “Invincible,” and then looked up the real guy it was about, [Vince Papale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Papale). If the article is correct, he played no college football, and went through no draft. He just tried out for the local (Philadelphia) teams at various levels (semi-pro, WFL, and NFL), and was signed each time. Have they changed the rules since then? ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/38 "2012-08-30T00:07:30Z")
Eric Swann was drafted from a semi-pro team so it’s not as if being a professional in some form keeps you out of the draft. I’m willing to bet that after Papale had his workout with the Eagles, he somehow got his name added to the official list of draft eligible players the NFL must compile, and when he didn’t get drafted (whether it was an the main draft or a supplemental one) only then was he able to sign as a UFA. (Obviously, unless the rules were different back then, but I’m pretty sure the draft was always designed to eliminate loopholes that would allow players to evade its purpose to fairly distribute the yearly crop of rookies.) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/39 "2012-08-30T01:29:06Z")
For baseball we had a local guy who found a loophole in the draft. He was in high school but got a GED. And he declared for the baseball draft but nobody knew he was in the draft so he was not picked. So he became a free agent which he thought was a great idea but nobody signed him. He played college baseball for 3 years and then was drafted . ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976/40 "2012-08-30T22:15:00Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Well, I looked up the movie I was thinking of, “Invincible,” and then looked up the real guy it was about, [Vince Papale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Papale). > > If the article is correct, he played no college football, and went through no draft. He just tried out for the local (Philadelphia) teams at various levels (semi-pro, WFL, and NFL), and was signed each time. Have they changed the rules since then? The current rule is that players have to declare themselves eligible for the NFL amateur draft by filing an application with the NFL. However, that only applies to amateur players because professionals cannot be drafted. Papale played a couple of semi-pro games and was thus ineligible for the draft. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-q-can-a-college-player-choose-which-team-he-wants-to-play-for/632976.md?page=3)