Clarett Ruled Eligible For Draft
 

No story as yet on ESPN.com, just a blurb.

I think Mooch will take a shot at him over in Barryland.

I guess it depends on the specific ruling but this is probably not good for the NFL...

IMO it was only a matter of time before under-under classmen were going to become eligible for the draft. The NFL is the last surviving professional league that has any kind of restrictions on this type of thing.

I haven't checked for an article recently, but the blurb suggested that the league's age policy violated the antitrust laws, so it's potentially a broad ruling.

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Suspended Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett was ruled eligible for the NFL draft Thursday by a federal judge who concluded that the league's rule violates antitrust laws.

U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ordered the NFL to let Clarett enter April's draft.

Clarett played just one season at Ohio State, leading the Buckeyes to the 2002 national championship. He was barred from playing in the 2003 season for accepting improper benefits from a family friend and then lying about it to investigators.

Clarett sued the NFL last summer to challenge the league rule that a player must be out of high school three years for draft eligibility. Thursday's ruling, if not successfully appealed, could allow teenage football stars to take advantage of the marketing and business opportunities available to young athletes in other sports.

The league had argued that Clarett should not be eligible because its rule resulted from a collective bargaining agreement with the players and is immune from antitrust scrutiny. The NFL also argued that its rule is reasonable and that Clarett cannot bring such a lawsuit.

"While, ordinarily, the best offense is a good defense, none of these defenses hold the line," the judge wrote in a 70-page ruling.

She said Clarett could bring the lawsuit because he was fighting a policy that excludes all players in his position from selling their services to the only viable buyer -- the NFL.

"The NFL has not justified Clarett's exclusion by demonstrating that the rule enhances competition. Indeed, Clarett has alleged the very type of injury -- a complete bar to entry into the market for this services -- that the antitrust laws are designed to prevent," she said.

The only viable buyer line is bullshit. He can play in canada or arena ball. Yeah it would suck, but that removes the defense of the NFL being the only place to sell his talents. I like the age restrictions. I dont want the NFL to become the NBA and have kids out of high school try and come in.

its their career, let them ruin it. Besides, how many high school players actually have the talent to go pro without going through colelge? Probably very few, if any at all.

They can try it but I suspect that most teams will avoid most of these guys. There are so many needs for a football team and with the cap I can't see teams taking flyers on kids that may turn out good.

Especially since this is NFL football we're talking about. These kids will get very injured in a hurry, believe it...

I agree 100%. Clarett has made it clear that he didn't want to be in college. Better for him to knock heads in the pros than to pretend to be loyal to OSU.

I don't think this will change much in the NFL, in the long run. Most players really want to go to college and reap the rewards that playing there can provide. I'm sure some teams will try drafting young players, but without a true minor league system, all but the most talented will find themselves either in the Arena League, NFL Europe, or the practice squad.


Not before the third round I hope.

I agree with HB#2. I think (and hope) the effect will be minimal. There are a number of factors to consider. The most obvious is the physical difference between players. There will be some physical freaks who will be put together well enough at a young age to compete in the NFL, but it will be very, very few. This isn't the NBA or NHL. Both of those sports are physical games, but not nearly in the same way as the NFL.

The other factor to consider is money. NFL contracts, as all of us little virtual GMs know, aren't guaranteed except for the signing bonus. I can't imagine too many GM's in the league will be willing to spend first round money on an 18 or 19 year old kid. Sure, it may happen if the Lebron James of football comes around, but that will be rare. So, all of a sudden you're dropping to the second round or lower. That will be a tough decision for a kid. Does he want to put his name in the draft, knwoing that he'll get a small signing bonus and little guraunteed money. Or will he want to go to college (or stay in school) and try to improve his draft status.

Even if youngsters jumping into the NFL will be rare, it will still force NFL teams to be wary of what is going on at the highschool level and really pay close attention to underclassmen. If there is that Lebron of the NFL, teams will have to know about him.

Dola.

I also agree. Not before the third round.

How about this scenario...

Look at some of the guys who signed yesterday with colleges, straight out of high school. You've got OLmen upwards of 350 lbs. Clearly, they have the size to play in the NFL, if not the athletic ability and/or technique. What if an NFL team drafts one of these monsters, gives him a decent-sized bonus but minimum salary for each year, and gives him a 7-10 year contract over which the bonus gets spread?

This would give the kid what he wants - money up front - and would allow the NFL team to take a small cap hit each year in order to develop the kid into a legit pro player during the time he would otherwise be in school. And as a bonus, he might be a serviceable lineman getting on the job training when he would otherwise be sitting in class.

That's conceivable to me.

I don't know how enthusiastic most teams would be about giving a multi-million dollar signing bonus to 18 year olds. My gut feeling is that most NFL teams aren't going to be happy with this ruling.

It should only take a few high schoolers going undrafted before this is a rarity.

I think the more likely impact is seeing more college players come out after their "true" sophomore seasons.

Obviously, the NFL is not going to be happy about this, but I really don't see where their policy was legally defensible. The judge was 100% correct in ruling the way she did.

I would like to see the NFL create a minor league for these players who, for one reason or another, are not really suitable for college, but need a place to develop their football talent. I'm sure there are plenty of cities around the country with no NFL team that could turn out 10,000-15,000 fans a week for a minor league team.

I think the biggest reasons it won't is:

Outrageous NFL rookie contracts v. NBA rookie cap - it is much easier to draft a high school player when it is only a small portion of your salary pool, but given high slotted salaries in the NFL and limited roster space, high school picks seem unrealistic and stupid (so maybe the Cardinals will do it, but no one else will ;) ).

I don't foresee high schoolers being drafted in the 1st or 2nd round, so my proposal above is not intended to mean that these guys would get signing bonuses of $10M+. However, I think a long-term deal with a signing bonus around $1M would provide the team with enough flexibility to at least consider the idea.

A couple of other thoughts:

1. I agree that this will likely affect the 1st and 2nd year college players the most. Which puts a whole new spin on recruiting.

2. Speaking of recruiting, the time between college signing day and the NFL draft would become much more interesting.

Doesn't the NFL have the right to set an age limit (techinally, it's a three-year high graduation requirement)?

I'm kind of surprised that the NFL is actually allowing ESPN to report this story, considering it makes the NFL look bad...

;)

Would have been an interesting test this year if Mike Williams went into the draft. He'd have a shot at jumping ahead of Fitzgerald.

Most likely neither Clarett nor Williams will even get the chance due to a probable appeal...

Another lawsuit by Clarrett against the NFL can't be far off after he's not taken in day one.

Exactly. Someone like Williams would have come out in a heartbeat had this ruling been in place. The guy would have been a first round lock, if not a top 5 pick.

I think it might be time to take a close look at the freshman standouts from this past year... one more big year and they'll probably be heading pro.

Some Peterson kid out of Texas is drawing comparisons to Eric Dickerson(not his sideline reporting talents). I believe he's going to Oklahoma...

LOL

You are missing the viable part of only viable buyer. Compared to the NFL, Arena and Canadian football are not viable alternatives.

This opens the door for all the stupid high school kids who think they are NFL ready to go out and blow it.

I don't understand this statement. He has viable options for playing profesionally. Is he somehow entitled to the much higher salary he would receive in the NFL?

I have no problem with this ruling.For me, the question is if a guy is capable of playing in the league and the "experts" i.e. the personnel folks who are making the pick think that this person will help their football team, why put a rule in place to stop that. From what I have read, most NFL personnel folks would not have draft Clarett above the 4th round. The vast majority of the high school players coming out of high school would not be ready to make the leap. This will only become a problem for the NFL if their personnel men follow the NBA's lead in draft incompetence

So crime does pay?

For it to be another viable buyer, that buyer should have to be able to provide a comparable price. He should be entitled to sell his services at the highest possible price, and the NFL's rule (illegally in the eyes of this judge) prevents him from doing so.

Of course, that is from the standpoint of logic, not law, but I can easily see where the lesser leagues would not be considered "viable buyers" because they do not offer comparable prices.

He certainly is entitled to compete for those contracts under the law. He's not entitled to receive them, but the NFL legally needs to have a better reason than age if he has the talent to compete for them.

The fact remains that there are other leagues he can play in. If a company deems I dont meet their criteria to work for them but other lower paying companies will hire me for the same job with them, can I sue that since the other places arent offering as much money that the first place has to let me in?

Its also not like he is eternally not eligle to play. Plus, he is a bad seed with a questionable past to begin with. Why should the rules be changed for him?

The NFL is not "a company." It is a collection of companies. Hence, the violation of anti-trust laws.

Regardless, I now hope nobody drafts him if he is allowed to go in.

It's not so much a case of whether the rules should be changed for him, but whether the rules are legal in the first place. Companies don't have the right to break the law, and the fact that the companies involved are professional sports franchises shouldn't necessarily entitle them to special status under the law.

Has anyone seen a link to the text of the judge's ruling yet?

I think this good for the NFL, colleges, players, and fans.

Living in the largest market without a ML sports team, I can assure you that we could not support any minor league team with 10,000 people.

I agree...not going to happen...

or course, Clarret still can not buy a handgun or rent a minivan or hold an elected federal office, but that is A-Ok because its different.

Your example does not hold up. A company may decide that you do not meet their criteria for a certain position. But, they are, in general, not allowed to automatically exclude you because you belong to a certain group. They have to look at your individual skills to determine that. The chance to have his skills evaluated fairly and compete with others for a job is all that Clarett won today, not a spot on an NFL roster.

It is actually pointless to debate whether or not this rule was a violation of antitrust laws, since the NFL did not contest that, we can assume that it was. They fought the suit basically on two points: (1) The rule was exempt from those laws because it was collectively bargained and (2) That the rule was in place to protect players of those ages from getting hurt. The judge apparently disagreed.

Why can he not hold an elected federal office?

Does this ruling mean NFL teams could draft 15 year olds now?

age

http://www.seventy.org/electioninfo/...licOffice.html

but hey, thats different

I dunno. There are plenty of markets that support that many people for *high school* games. I think the NFL could find 32 towns to put minor league organizations in. It would certainly solve a lot of problems. I mean, nobody complains about corruption in college baseball, because the athletes there actually want to go to school. If they don't, they play in the minors.

If this is the case, then sports is in for a world of hurt. The entire process of a 'draft' could be challenged.

the avg attendance at an international league game this year was 6,794. While baseball is not football, I think similar figures would hold true.


http://www.ilbaseball.com/attendance.html

No, Child Labor Laws...16 year olds, I think so.