What if?

[Pukindog]

This happens to be a draft question so I posted it here.

Situation:

A player in college is a junior and is a certified blue chipper. He has a certain pro team he wants to sign with but sees this team is doing really well. His chosen team most likely will not sign him due to a late placement in the draft order and the teams at the top of the draft he doesn't want to sign with.

So, on purpose, he doesn't declare himself available for the draft but also doesn't state he will be back for his final year at college.

After the draft and supplemental draft goes down can he sign with the team he has targeted? If so, will there be any repercussions? If so, what are they? If he cannot sign with the targeted team, why?

[ThatsmyQB]

Originally Posted by Pukindog

This happens to be a draft question so I posted it here.

Situation:

A player in college is a junior and is a certified blue chipper. He has a certain pro team he wants to sign with but sees this team is doing really well. His chosen team most likely will not sign him due to a late placement in the draft order and the teams at the top of the draft he doesn't want to sign with.

So, on purpose, he doesn't declare himself available for the draft but also doesn't state he will be back for his final year at college.

After the draft and supplemental draft goes down can he sign with the team he has targeted? If so, will there be any repercussions? If so, what are they? If he cannot sign with the targeted team, why?

Without getting into it, he can't do that!
What he CAN DO is simply get drafted and demand a trade ala Elway if he hates the team that drafts him!
I'm pretty sure almost 100% positive that any college player needs to take at least ONE YEAR OFF to become a true F/A for draft purposes, although he could still be drafted and teams would own his rights for 2 years I think.
Basically there's no way around it, he'd have to get drafted or else sit out a full year of football!

[TheCount]

Originally Posted by Pukindog

This happens to be a draft question so I posted it here.

Situation:

A player in college is a junior and is a certified blue chipper. He has a certain pro team he wants to sign with but sees this team is doing really well. His chosen team most likely will not sign him due to a late placement in the draft order and the teams at the top of the draft he doesn't want to sign with.

So, on purpose, he doesn't declare himself available for the draft but also doesn't state he will be back for his final year at college.

After the draft and supplemental draft goes down can he sign with the team he has targeted? If so, will there be any repercussions? If so, what are they? If he cannot sign with the targeted team, why?

No, you can't sign with a team you select. Every rookie has to go through the drafting process, I'm pretty sure. Even in the supplemental draft, teams still draft you and the team you may not like can say they'll give up a pick for you regardless.

They instituted the draft so that teams don't turn into powerhouses the way College teams do, I don't think they would like anybody snaking out of that system.

[Biggems]

why cant he simply show up at training camp for the team he wants and ask for a tryout?

[TheCount]

Originally Posted by Biggems

why cant he simply show up at training camp for the team he wants and ask for a tryout?

Because he's a rookie coming out of college, he'd have to sit this year out to try and just work out for a team.

And even then, players that have sat out a year (Mike Williams and Maurice Clarett, for example) both declared for the draft the next year. They were both awful, by the way, after sitting out that year.

[Pukindog]

Originally Posted by TheCount

Because he's a rookie coming out of college, he'd have to sit this year out to try and just work out for a team.

And even then, players that have sat out a year (Mike Williams and Maurice Clarett, for example) both declared for the draft the next year. They were both awful, by the way, after sitting out that year.

If the CFL permitted him to play a year would that satisfy the NFL regs?

[TheCount]

Originally Posted by Pukindog

If the CFL permitted him to play a year would that satisfy the NFL regs?

It might, I'm not sure. I just don't think any kid would go through all that just to play for the team he wants to.

[Biggems]

why would he have to sit out a year........as long as he had played his two years in college, he should be able to go to the NFL as a walk on player.

[TheCount]

Originally Posted by Biggems

why would he have to sit out a year........as long as he had played his two years in college, he should be able to go to the NFL as a walk on player.

If that was the case, players would make their own deals with teams, skip the draft and go play wherever they wanted.

I don't claim to know what the official rules are, but I don't think that sort of thing is allowed. The players union wouldn't accept a player that did that, and you can't play unless you're in the union.