Can someone choose to avoid the draft and sign where they want?

[youngosu]

20 hours ago, patriotsheatyan said:

Recognizing that this would be a strange move that would cost someone money and would be ill advised, could they?

Maybe a scenario where a top running back wants to sign on a team with a top OL because he thinks he will get more money in the long run, or an extremely rich guy who wants to play for fun and wants to go to a team that has a history of developing players at his position? Ignoring the wisdom on these decisions, would these be options for them?

Not sure why you think such a move would cost them money, if they were allowed to avoid the draft every player would avoid the draft and they'd end up getting more money than they get from being drafted. 

The draft hurts players and helps clubs. Not the other way around. That said, you can't avoid the draft. Its impossible. 

[youngosu]

1 hour ago, ronjon1990 said:

If I'm reading the original post correctly, yes, someone can avoid the draft and later sign wherever they want. I think.

If a player in college runs out of eligibility, they usually (always) declare for the draft. Some guys get drafted, some don't and sign as UDFA's or go to Canada. 

Now, most of the guys I've known that were fairly solid and went to Canada in recent memory would be Jeff Garcia and Adarius Bowman, both of whom went undrafted in their respective drafts. However, is there a rule that one must declare for a draft for an NFL team to sign them?

Michael Lewis (New Orleans, San Francisco) never went to college but opted for several semi-pro leagues and tryouts before getting signed. I don't believe he ever declared for any draft. 

So, I mean, it seems conceivable that a kid could simply graduate college and not declare for the draft (thus not being draftable?) I believe Jeff Samardzija withdrew his name from the draft to play baseball despite being a likely day 1 or early day 2 pick. As a result, he was never drafted nor went through a draft process as an eligible candidate. But if a team wanted to sign him and he wanted to play, they could sign him as no other team had already reserved his rights (and to my knowledge never had the ability to). 

I would imagine there's something about having to sit out a year or something, but I can't find anywhere stating that the only entry into the NFL is via the draft.

You are automatically put in the draft when you run out of a college eligibility or if you didn't play college football you are eligible once 4 NFL seasons have accrued since your high school graduation. The only people that "declare" for the draft are underclassman. There is no way to avoid the draft. 

 

Michael Lewis didn't enter the NFL until a decade removed from high school, he was eligible to be drafted years prior but happened to go undrafted making him a free agent. Same with Jeff Samardzija , a team could have drafted him but everyone chose not too so now he is a free agent. Taking his name out of the draft was symbolic, an NFL team still could have taken him.

[ronjon1990]

3 hours ago, youngosu said:

You are automatically put in the draft when you run out of a college eligibility or if you didn't play college football you are eligible once 4 NFL seasons have accrued since your high school graduation. The only people that "declare" for the draft are underclassman. There is no way to avoid the draft.

That's impossible. There is no way that some random dude from say, Fiji, would just automatically be put in the draft. A team could sign him at 22 or so with him never being a draft candidate.

[youngosu]

6 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

That's impossible. There is no way that some random dude from say, Fiji, would just automatically be put in the draft. A team could sign him at 22 or so with him never being a draft candidate.

Its not impossible, that random dude was automatically entered into the draft 4 years after his high school class graduated. The fact that no one knew who he was doesn't change that. Now if he decides to play college football at 22 his clock resets and he has to enter the draft but if he is just some random due he would indeed be a free agent rather any NFL team has ever heard of him or not. 

That is the rule. 

 

"PLAYER NOT ATTENDING COLLEGE. Any player who does not attend college is automatically eligible for selection in the next principal Draft that is conducted after four NFL regular seasons have begun and ended following either his graduation from high school or graduation of the class with which he entered high school, whichever is earlier. If four football seasons have not elapsed, he is ineligible for selection, but may apply to the Commissioner for Special Eligibility pursuant to the conditions in the section below entitled “Special Eligibility.” If said player is not selected in the Draft for which he is eligible, he is eligible to be signed as a free agent, unless he subsequently attends college and participates in college football. In such event, he shall become subject to the rules that are applicable to players who attend college."

https://www.nflregionalcombines.com/Docs/Eligibility Rules.pdf

[ronjon1990]

1 minute ago, youngosu said:

Its not impossible, that random dude was automatically entered into the draft 4 years after his high school class graduated. The fact that no one knew who he was doesn't change that. 

 

Ummm...what? Can't possibly be entered into the draft if nobody knows who you are. That's nonsense.

[youngosu]

14 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

Ummm...what? Can't possibly be entered into the draft if nobody knows who you are. That's nonsense.

"PLAYER NOT ATTENDING COLLEGE. Any player who does not attend college is automatically eligible for selection in the next principal Draft that is conducted after four NFL regular seasons have begun and ended following either his graduation from high school or graduation of the class with which he entered high school, whichever is earlier. If four football seasons have not elapsed, he is ineligible for selection, but may apply to the Commissioner for Special Eligibility pursuant to the conditions in the section below entitled “Special Eligibility.” If said player is not selected in the Draft for which he is eligible, he is eligible to be signed as a free agent, unless he subsequently attends college and participates in college football. In such event, he shall become subject to the rules that are applicable to players who attend college."

https://www.nflregionalcombines.com/Docs/Eligibility Rules.pdf

 

Read for yourself. Its why 30 year old rugby players from Australia are free agents. If they don't know who you are you'll just go undrafted, doesn't mean you weren't available to be picked. The rule is quite clear.

[Broncofan]

The OP scenarios were for top players trying to choose their destination...and playboy millionaires.   Let’s perhaps just agree that the top player scenarios involve guys coming out of college except for the odd Warren Moon situation, and that the playboy millionaire angle probably isn’t that relevant to most of us lol.  

[ronjon1990]

6 minutes ago, youngosu said:

"PLAYER NOT ATTENDING COLLEGE. Any player who does not attend college is automatically eligible for selection in the next principal Draft that is conducted after four NFL regular seasons have begun and ended following either his graduation from high school or graduation of the class with which he entered high school, whichever is earlier. If four football seasons have not elapsed, he is ineligible for selection, but may apply to the Commissioner for Special Eligibility pursuant to the conditions in the section below entitled “Special Eligibility.” If said player is not selected in the Draft for which he is eligible, he is eligible to be signed as a free agent, unless he subsequently attends college and participates in college football. In such event, he shall become subject to the rules that are applicable to players who attend college."

https://www.nflregionalcombines.com/Docs/Eligibility Rules.pdf

 

Read for yourself. Its why 30 year old rugby players from Australia are free agents. If they don't know who you are you'll just go undrafted, doesn't mean you weren't available to be picked. The rule is quite clear.

There's a big difference in what a rule says and how it works in practice. Sure, if someone happens to know who he is, it is "possible" someone drafts them after high school or they become a UDFA. There has to be a point of entry. But the original post asked if the draft "could" be avoided. The answer remains- yes, it can. Because in practice, most teams won't waste picks on someone who withdraws their name or what have you.

The rule is purely theoretical as it pertains to some 23 year old rugby player with zero NFL exposure that just happens to sign with a team out of nowhere in October. 

[youngosu]

6 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

There's a big difference in what a rule says and how it works in practice. Sure, if someone happens to know who he is, it is "possible" someone drafts them after high school or they become a UDFA. There has to be a point of entry. But the original post asked if the draft "could" be avoided. The answer remains- yes, it can. Because in practice, most teams won't waste picks on someone who withdraws their name or what have you.

The rule is purely theoretical as it pertains to some 23 year old rugby player with zero NFL exposure that just happens to sign with a team out of nowhere in October. 

No, the answer remains no because any player that "removes" themselves but has lots of value will still get drafted. Examples I can provide:

Bo Jackson and Raghib Ismail, both players were #1 pick level talents that both "withdrew their name" yet both were still drafted. 

Sure, a potential day 2 or day 3 pick that chooses baseball may go undrafted but a top talent is still going to hear their named called. And even if they aren't drafted they didn't actually "avoid" the draft, they just didn't get picked. 

And the rule isn't purely theoretical because NFL teams often sign rugby players who were unknowns to NFL teams when they went undrafted (think Jarryd Hyde)....

[Iamcanadian]

12 hours ago, ronjon1990 said:

If I'm reading the original post correctly, yes, someone can avoid the draft and later sign wherever they want. I think.

If a player in college runs out of eligibility, they usually (always) declare for the draft. Some guys get drafted, some don't and sign as UDFA's or go to Canada. 

Now, most of the guys I've known that were fairly solid and went to Canada in recent memory would be Jeff Garcia and Adarius Bowman, both of whom went undrafted in their respective drafts. However, is there a rule that one must declare for a draft for an NFL team to sign them?

Michael Lewis (New Orleans, San Francisco) never went to college but opted for several semi-pro leagues and tryouts before getting signed. I don't believe he ever declared for any draft. 

So, I mean, it seems conceivable that a kid could simply graduate college and not declare for the draft (thus not being draftable?) I believe Jeff Samardzija withdrew his name from the draft to play baseball despite being a likely day 1 or early day 2 pick. As a result, he was never drafted nor went through a draft process as an eligible candidate. But if a team wanted to sign him and he wanted to play, they could sign him as no other team had already reserved his rights (and to my knowledge never had the ability to). 

I would imagine there's something about having to sit out a year or something, but I can't find anywhere stating that the only entry into the NFL is via the draft.

No, if your college eligibility is up, you do not have to declare for the draft, you are automatically eligible to be drafted.

Samardzija wasn't drafted because he signed a long term contract to play baseball, so why would any team draft him, when they only own his rights for a year??

Michael Lewis was a complete unknown and was eligible to be drafted after his college class graduated, if he had gone to college, 4 years later. He did not have to declare unless he wanted to be drafted as a junior. He simply tried out for a team at least 4 years after his high school class graduated.

[TheKillerNacho]

Nope.

[TheKillerNacho]

On 4/15/2018 at 7:45 PM, lancerman said:

No. You're best bet is to trash any teams you don't want to draft you in the media as hard as you can and tell them point blank you'll sit out. Maybe declare your junior year so you can go back to college after if they call your bluff. 

I'm pretty sure they lose their NCAA eligibility just by declaring, but I could be wrong.

[youngosu]

1 hour ago, TheKillerNacho said:

I'm pretty sure they lose their NCAA eligibility just by declaring, but I could be wrong.

Yep, their is a grace period where players that don't hire agents can withdraw their name and return to college but if you don't withdraw by that date you lose your college eligibility. 

There is simply no way for a player to avoid the draft. 

[Pugger]

On 4/15/2018 at 4:33 PM, Broncofan said:

 

[Soko]

20 hours ago, Broncofan said:

The OP scenarios were for top players trying to choose their destination...and playboy millionaires.   Let’s perhaps just agree that the top player scenarios involve guys coming out of college except for the odd Warren Moon situation, and that the playboy millionaire angle probably isn’t that relevant to most of us lol.  

Some team would take a flier on a first round talent in one of the later rounds in an attempt to leverage them into a contract. The top tier guys wouldn’t be able to do it.

I’d throw away a 7th for Barkley.