NFL Rookies Explore College Return After Colorado NCAA Ruling
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- NFL players who signed professional contracts are now exploring a return to college, with some looking into filing lawsuits to regain eligibility and enter the transfer portal, per CBS Sports sources.
- Judge Charlotte Sweeney clarified on Aug. 2 that NCAA rules still bar players who signed NFL contracts from returning to college, yet teams have stayed in contact with players about a potential return.
- NFL roster cutdown day on Aug. 30 has pushed undrafted free agents and already-released undrafted rookies to begin exploring a college return.
- Myles Rowser, a former Arizona State All-Big 12 selection, was among a small group of football players granted temporary restraining orders last week, securing eligibility protection and transfer portal access independent of the Colorado ruling.
- Indiana defensive lineman Stephen Daley, who recorded 19 tackles for loss last season for the national champion Hoosiers, has returned to college following the Colorado eligibility ruling after previously being out of eligibility.
- The NCAA is still awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on the Colorado preliminary injunction, with the college football season opening in just over a week.
Why it matters: The eligibility fight is escalating from non-signed recruits to players who already held NFL contracts, raising the stakes for both the NCAA and professional teams with the Aug. 30 cutdown deadline looming. If courts keep greenlighting returns via restraining orders — as they did for Myles Rowser — the transfer portal and roster composition across college football could shift on a timeline faster than the NCAA's appellate ruling can resolve.
Ask SkimNews
