Rising Juniors May be Last to Get Major Pay Day

With NFL owners opting out of the collective bargaining agreement, pressure is being put on both the NFL and team owners to reach a new agreement by Spring of 2009. If an agreement is not reached by this time, there would be no 2010 salary cap therefore changing the free agency game.

It is safe to assume that NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, will not allow such a free market. Goodell has been very open in expressing his disapproval on "unproven" NFL rookies receiving high dollar contracts like the ones received by Jake Long (5 years - $30 million guaranteed). This leads many to believe that Goodell is going to lead an effort to restrict the amount of money an rookie can receive.

What this means for college football is that there could be an enormously large amount of juniors entering the 2009 NFL Draft. If these rising juniors were to wait one more year for the 2010 Draft, they could miss out on millions of dollars under a new collective bargaining agreement.

It has been assumed that last years Jacobs Trophy Winner, Andre Smith, will be leaving after this up-coming season. The threat for restrictions to be put on rookie salaries has to do nothing but increase the chances of Smith turning pro. You can't blame him. Smith has well lived to the hype of being a 5 star offensive tackle entering college and many scouts believe he is NFL ready.