- May 21, 2026
- 9,289
- 0
In 1975, Walter Payton ran roughshod against the Steelers in the annual game that pitted a college all-star team against the defending NFL champions. A half-century later, the prospect of any player who ever wore an NFL helmet competing against college players has prompted widespread pearl clutching.
It's a weak position. The players who want to return to LSU (and Indiana) aren't hoping to don raccoon coats and chant "boola boola." They simply want to make more money than they'd make on a practice squad.
The entire argument that pro players are playing against amateurs is flawed. College players are professional players. For years, they were unpaid professionals. Finally, they're getting fair value.
Rece Davis of ESPN made the "college players are professional players" argument on Friday. Which is refreshing, given ESPN's clear interest in doing the bidding of a college system that hopes to parlay a nonsensical argument into a federal antitrust exemption. And it will be very interesting to see whether College GameDay colleagues agree with him on Saturday morning — especially since Nick Saban once brought free-agent NFL running back Trent Richardson back to Alabama to serve as the scout-team running back at practice against the Crimson Tide defense.
Either way, the idea that the fairly small universe of players who spent time on NFL rosters should not receive the fifth year of eligibility that all players will get moving forward is, in a word, bullshit. Anyone who loudly makes the case otherwise is, intentionally or not, buying in to the effort to use this isolated, one-year aberration created by the NCAA as fuel to rig the system in a way that hurts all players moving forward.
It's a weak position. The players who want to return to LSU (and Indiana) aren't hoping to don raccoon coats and chant "boola boola." They simply want to make more money than they'd make on a practice squad.
The entire argument that pro players are playing against amateurs is flawed. College players are professional players. For years, they were unpaid professionals. Finally, they're getting fair value.
Rece Davis of ESPN made the "college players are professional players" argument on Friday. Which is refreshing, given ESPN's clear interest in doing the bidding of a college system that hopes to parlay a nonsensical argument into a federal antitrust exemption. And it will be very interesting to see whether College GameDay colleagues agree with him on Saturday morning — especially since Nick Saban once brought free-agent NFL running back Trent Richardson back to Alabama to serve as the scout-team running back at practice against the Crimson Tide defense.
Either way, the idea that the fairly small universe of players who spent time on NFL rosters should not receive the fifth year of eligibility that all players will get moving forward is, in a word, bullshit. Anyone who loudly makes the case otherwise is, intentionally or not, buying in to the effort to use this isolated, one-year aberration created by the NCAA as fuel to rig the system in a way that hurts all players moving forward.