2018 NFL Draft: Record number of early entries a risky proposition for players
Many NFL-eligible juniors ignore advice provided by the league and risk going undrafted each year
Gil Brandt threw the full weight of his 84 years of life, draft and NFL knowledge at Oklahoma tight end Mark Andrews this week.
"I told him not to come out, stay in school, [that] he'd be a third-round choice," said Brandt, the longtime NFL personnel guru. "He came out. He'll be a third-round choice. He'd be a lot better off because there's a weak class next year. He'd have a chance to move up."
As a redshirt junior, Andrews was a consensus All-American and Mackey Award winner (best tight end) who was Heisman winner Baker Mayfield's favorite target. Those honors matter only a little compared to the harsh realities of NFL Draft evaluation. Andrews is one of what is expected to be a record 112 underclassmen betting their skills matter enough to get them drafted in the first two rounds, where the real money is.
The odds continue to mount against their success. Since 2014, when NFL draft evaluations changed for juniors, almost a third (31.6 percent) of those declaring have gone undrafted. Using that ratio, a record 37 underclassmen won't be drafted in April. The total reflects a growing trend of bad advice, rampant agent runners and simply bad choices by some players.
It's a trend that long ago got the attention of college and NFL types. The total number of undrafted underclassmen since 2014 (118) is roughly equal to the roster size of the average FBS program.
"Whether or not you want to believe it or not, there are a lot of people in these kids' ear," new Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin said. "There are even more people in their families' ear that really don't understand, financially, you can play your way into a lot more money."
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