Assembly Hall (08-25-2021),Betterread (08-25-2021),Chip R (08-25-2021)
Boston Red (08-25-2021)
Almost no 18 year old would ever be ready to step on an NFL field. It is just different, and more than just a guys ego/feelings would get hurt. Maybe you could argue that someone like Bo Jackson could have pulled it off....but it would not even be a single player every decade in my opinion. It is not close to natural for an 18 year olds body/frame to be mature enough at 18 years old to play a collision sport with some of the biggest, fastest and strongest athletes on the planet.
Last edited by adkindo; 08-25-2021 at 11:36 AM.
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”― Marcus Aurelius
I agree that most 18 year olds aren't ready to step on an NFL field. My point is that 18 year olds wouldn't end up getting killed in the NFL because almost none of them would get drafted. I think they should be allowed to go to the draft whenever they want, but if they're not physically ready, a team isn't going to take them. There are a few guys like Adrian Peterson, probably Bo Jackson, who could do it. I'm not sure there would be a mass departure of underclassmen though, outside of the few superstars who are ready.
Why does the NFL need a minor league system? The college model with players being allowed endorsements is better for both the players and the NFL. College players have more recognition, get top tier coaching, play on big stages and now can get paid a bit. None of that would happen in a true minor league system.
As others have alluded, the problems with "collegiate athletics" are really limited to a couple of sports and a relative handful of schools. In football and men's basketball outside of the first- and second-tier programs, and in pretty much every sport that isn't football or men's basketball, college athletics is getting along about the same as it ever did.
Reading comprehension is not just an ability, it's a choice
Assembly Hall (08-25-2021)
Yeah, Div II and III, NAIA, and even Div I sports outside of football, basketball, and maybe baseball. There are a whole lot of other sports (soccer, volleyball, lacrosse, track, cross country, etc etc ) where they don’t have a pro future and just want to play the sport at a high level.
She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning
Assembly Hall (08-25-2021),Betterread (08-25-2021),Boston Red (08-25-2021),cumberlandreds (08-25-2021),IslandRed (08-26-2021),paintmered (08-25-2021)
Yep. And sometimes, even if there is a path to a professional future in those sports outside the big three, that future doesn't typically come with six- or seven-figure salaries. So it's still important to leverage that talent into a college degree. And from the college's perspective, those sports aren't generating the kind of revenue that leads to excesses at the institutional level.
Reading comprehension is not just an ability, it's a choice
Assembly Hall (08-26-2021)
"In our sundown perambulations of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing 'base', a certain game of ball. Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our close rooms, the game of ball is glorious"
-Walt Whitman
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