The Big Ten is set to pass a rule barring players from returning to the conference after appearing on an NFL roster, signing a professional contract, or declaring for the NFL draft without withdrawing before the deadline. The rule was expected to be approved Tuesday.
The move follows two players, Cleveland’s Dae’Quan Wright and New Orleans’ Zxavian Harris, leaving their NFL teams after being waived from training camp rosters to join Lane Kiffin’s LSU roster instead, taking advantage of lawsuits that had opened a path for waived NFL players to use a fifth year of college eligibility. The SEC’s presidents and chancellors issued a similar statement Monday, saying players who’ve signed pro contracts “should not then be permitted” to return to college sports.
Why Conferences Are Moving on This Now
The Wright and Harris moves exposed a real gap: legal rulings had opened a door for NFL players to return to college eligibility, but neither conference had a rule addressing it until players actually started walking through that door. Letting waived NFL players compete against college athletes who never left creates an obvious competitive and roster-management problem, since a team could effectively use NFL training camps as a farm system for its own college roster.
What This Means Going Forward
With the Big Ten and SEC now aligned against the practice, any player cut from an NFL roster who wants to keep playing football will need to look at conferences that haven’t adopted a similar ban, assuming any exist, or step away from football entirely rather than returning to major college programs. Whether every conference eventually adopts the same rule, closing the loophole nationally, is the next thing to watch.
