When big money talks: The NFL players who want to return to college

D'Quan Wright played two years for the Virginia Tech football teams and then another two years at Mississippi. Although he was not selected in the last NFL draft, he was signed for three years by the Philadelphia Eagles. Pretty quickly, the Eagles decided that the 22-year-old tight end was not good enough for them, and Wright was released. The Cleveland Browns decided to pick him up, and he moved to them with the contract. He trained for two weeks and did not appear in any preseason games — and one morning his name appeared in the college transfer system while he was still registered as an NFL player. The Browns, of course, cut him immediately, the contract was voided, and Wright announced that he was returning for a fifth season in college, this time at Louisiana State.

The NCAA, the college sports organization, did not see it coming. In June, the organization changed the rules and established a five-year eligibility window for playing in college — in all sports, including basketball. Many players who arrived at college in 2022, studied and played for four years, and went to the NFL, claimed that their fifth year was taken away from them. Federal judges granted them temporary restraining orders that opened a special window for them to return to college. Wright was one of them. Another player is Zaxavian Harris, a defensive player who already trained this summer with the New Orleans Saints, and he also wants to return to Louisiana now. Both argue that their short stop in the NFL should not be used to prevent them from playing another season in college, because they made their decision to turn professional at a time when the rules were not clear.

Immediately after Wright's decision became known, the SEC league, which includes LSU, ruled that those who moved to professional sports could not return to it. All other major leagues joined it, and the NCAA decided on a sweeping ban on allowing such players to participate, along with threats of very severe penalties — including suspending coaches for half a season and a fine of 50 percent of the university's sports budget. On the other hand, the NFL also reacted immediately by taking steps that would prevent players who suddenly decide to return to college from being selected again in the draft or playing in the league in the coming season.

The players' lawyers, of course, ran back to court, and last weekend a judge in the state of Louisiana prohibited the SEC and the league commissioner, Greg Sankey, from enforcing these penalties. "If Sankey appears at the next hearing, I would be happy to hear his argument," said Tony Clayton, one of the lawyers representing a group of 42 athletes registered in the case. "What gives him the right to anoint himself God and take away the constitutional rights of these children?"

On the face of it, the decision to prohibit those who have already gone professional from suddenly returning to college seems perfectly reasonable. A player who signs a contract in the NFL ends his college career. That's how it has always been. Not anymore. Now there is a debate about what a college athlete is today and what defines him. Everyone is stuck in a limbo that probably only the courts can resolve, and they are indeed debating a plethora of lawsuits and countersuits. On one hand, athletes who have already finished college and gone to professional leagues, but probably realized they are not good enough for the NFL, and also financially it would be better for them back on campus (Wright could earn a million dollars in the coming year). And on the other hand, the NCAA and its many leagues, which are still furious about the end of the amateur era and the freedom they had to make billions on the backs of young athletes.

For decades, college athletes were amateurs. This was not up for debate. They didn't have agents, they couldn't profit from sponsorships, couldn't move freely to another university, and of course didn't receive a dollar. The college sports industry in the US generates over 20 billion dollars a year, and the market value of the top 75 sports programs exceeds 50 billion. Coaches earned millions, universities built sophisticated facilities, everyone maximized the economic value of the giant industry. Except for the people who made the product, and many of them also came from a low socio-economic background. They were suspended if they received a free meal from a fan.

Years of struggle eventually led the NCAA to agree to open the golden goose to those who lay it as well. In 2014, basketball player Ed O'Bannon sued the NCAA for using his likeness in video games without compensation. The court ruled for the first time that amateurism rules violate antitrust laws. And in 2021, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the NCAA and forced the organization to allow players to earn money. Within a decade, the system went from a situation where a player was suspended because someone bought him a hamburger, to a situation where a former NFL player returns to university to earn millions. College athletes can now earn money from their personal brand, have an agent, switch universities, and sign sponsorship and advertising contracts. It is likely that eventually a clear red line will be drawn that will prevent players from returning from professional leagues to college, but the big question will remain: if schools share millions of dollars with athletes, but they are not considered "employees" by legal definition and have no rights, then what exactly is the athlete's relationship with the institution that pays him? The court will have the answers.