Dumb question for the fellas.
What are the requirements for entering the NFL? I mean, if you are a for sure number one pick, but don't want to go to the let's say the Jags as the first pick because it's a shitty team, can you opt out of the draft and sign on with whomever as a free agent?
Has anyone done anything like this?
Eli Manning pulled it off, but family name and White privilege factored in. He didn't want a damn thing to do with the Chargers but I think it's damn near impossible for the average player to avoid.
Are players allowed to avoid the draft and sign with a team separately? - Quora
Jason McDonald
, Grew up on the Steel Curtain.
Answered 3 years ago · Author has 6.1K answers and 9.5M answer views
Officially, no. The draft is the officially approved method for new players entering the league — the 32 team owners agreed to it, and the NFL players’ union has supported it. Short of someone successfully challenging the entire legality of the draft in court (extremely unlikely), new players have to join the team that drafts them.
I believe their only recourse at that point is to sit out an entire year and then re-enter the draft next year and hope a different team selects them. Bo Jackson is a rare example of someone who was able to do this successfully. In 1986, he refused to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because he believed they deliberately sabotaged his eligibility to play college baseball to force him to play football; he went back into the draft and was drafted by the Los Angeles (at that time) Raiders in 1987.
Unofficially, there have been players who have threatened to not sign with the team that drafted them, forcing the team that drafted them to trade their rights. John Elway in 1983 is one example — he was drafted by the Baltimore Colts but threatened to quit football and play baseball unless they traded him, which they eventually did, to the Denver Broncos. More recently in 2004, Eli Manning was picked #1 overall by the San Diego Chargers, but he basically let it be known that he would refuse to play for them and forced a trade to the New York Giants for Philip Rivers and additional players.
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Gary McAdam
, NY Giants fan since 1984
Answered December 19, 2020 · Author has 9K answers and 5.8M answer views
No - in order to be eligible to play in the NFL, they have to make themselves available to be drafted (it’s enshrined in the CBA between the league & Players Association). Only if they aren’t taken at all can they choose to sign with the team of their choice as a college free agent. That route is however considerably less lucrative than being drafted, as all college free agent deals are for the minimum salary and are shorter than those offered to draftees (three years maximum).
A few players have taken the supplemental draft route into the pros, by not declaring for the regular draft or becomin
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Answered May 21, 2020
Michael Kelly
, Fan since early 90s and a huge football (NFL) fan in general
Updated 1 year ago
There is 1 way. . its called the supplement draft which is held after the NFL draft but before the beginning of the season. It is for players that for 1 (qualifying) reason or another didn't declare for the draft. There have been players who didn't want to go to the team expected to draft so they purposely miss the dead line. But they had a qualifying reason even. Not anyone can just miss the deadline and go in the supplemental draft as your have to meet certain a criteria in order to qualify for it. Otherwise players would be constantly using it to better their situation weather it's the loca
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Douglas Ray Gunderson
, studied at University of Wisconsin - La Crosse
Answered 4 years ago · Author has 337 answers and 143.1K answer views
The only way they can do that is to not sign with the team that drafted them and stay out of football for over a year. Then another team could draft them and they would have to do it again. The best way (see John Elway, Eli manning and others) is to tell the teams before the draft that they will have to trade you. It is frowned upon, but it seems to be the only way to get it done. A very good agent and a player with other options can pull this off, but not many guys can. Players who are not drafted are free to sign with any team, but that means that 32 franchises had to pass on them 7 times ea
Christopher Doll
, Lover of football, poli-sci and sociology
Answered 7 years ago · Author has 240 answers and 201.1K answer views
Robin is correct overall but there is one other way.
They do have the option to go through the supplemental draft which generally receives less press and less teams looking into the players. The issue is it's a bit tough to get into the supplemental draft, you have to " had graduated or exhausted their college eligibility were made available for the supplemental draft. Since 1993, only players who had planned to attend college but for various reasons could not, have been included in the supplemental draft. (
National Football League Draft)"
In the end most players who take this route are usua
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