As Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta puts the finishing touches on his NFL Draft board, he will see firsthand the seismic shifts in college football in the NIL era.
Simply put, there just won’t be as many names on that draft board. Speaking at the Ravens pre-draft news conference last week, DeCosta acknowledged that the number of draftable players this season isn’t as high as in many previous years, and one big reason for that is the fact that underclassmen have a newfound ability to cash in on their name, image and likeness on campus. To get a nice payday, they no longer need to jump to the NFL.
“This whole draft landscape has changed,” DeCosta said, citing both NIL and the fact that the NCAA in 2020 granted all players in college at the time an extra year of eligibility because of COVID. “There are less players in the draft this year. There are less probably ‘draftable’ players this year on our board, less juniors, less underclassmen.”
In fact, the draft pool this year includes 58 so-called early entry players, who had college eligibility remaining but have chosen to jump to the NFL. (They have thus renounced any remaining NCAA eligibility.) That’s the lowest number since 2011. Just five years ago, a record 135 players entered the draft early, and in 2021, 100 underclassmen were drafted.
Many of those 58 early entries, including quarterbacks Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers and tackle Joe Alt, are expected to be among the first players taken when the NFL Draft begins Thursday, April 25, in Detroit.
The Ravens are scheduled to make their first pick at No. 30 overall.
But many players who might otherwise have applied for early entry to the draft have been enticed to stay. For potential Day Three draft picks, the lure of NIL money flowing to them on campus, often through collectives — fundraising arms that steer money back to athletes — means they don’t have to leave to get paid. And perhaps they see a chance to improve their draft stock with another strong season.
All of this could play a role in the Ravens’ draft strategy. As of now they have nine picks in the draft, including three above No. 200. They have one pick in the sixth round (No. 218) and two in the seventh round (Nos. 228 and 250).
If DeCosta feels the talent will be picked clean by the 200th pick, it’s possible he will try to package late picks to move up earlier in the draft. According to one popular trade value chart, the Ravens’ sixth- and early seventh-round picks could be swapped for a late fourth- or early fifth-rounder.
It’s also possible he will look to trade Day Three picks this year for Day Three picks next year, which could appeal if he anticipates a deeper class next season.
For either of those things to happen, though, DeCosta would need to find a willing trade partner, and it’s possible other GMs will have come to the same conclusion about the dearth of draftable players in this new NIL era.
“I like the idea of having more picks, but I want to have more picks in a specific range in the draft,” DeCosta said. “If we can get that done, then I could see us being in a good position to really maximize our chances to find good players.”
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