Sports Attorney Says NCAA Should Let Former NFL Players Use Remaining Eligibility — and Earn NIL Money
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — What happens when an NFL player’s professional career ends, but he still has college eligibility remaining?
According to New York sports attorney and sports law professor Andrew Ross Sack, the answer should not be that the player is forced to walk away from football altogether.
That could be the reality for Cleveland Browns tight end Dae’Quan Wright and other former college players following a recent federal appeals court ruling that could prevent former NFL players from returning to college football.
Wright, who was waived by the Browns, is waiting to see whether another NFL team will sign him. If he is not picked up, he had hoped to return to college football for the 2026-27 season by entering the transfer portal and giving up his professional contract and returning money earned during his NFL career.
A federal court initially granted temporary relief allowing the players to pursue that option. But on August 21, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s ruling, denying the players an additional season of college eligibility. A similar lawsuit in Ohio was also unsuccessful.
Sack says the decision could unfairly prevent players from making use of eligibility they otherwise would have had.
“If these former NFL players still have an additional fifth year of eligibility, they should be allowed to use it,” said Sack, a New York sports attorney and professor of sports law at LIU Post. “The NCAA should not stand in the way of players who want to continue playing football.”
The dispute also raises a potentially lucrative question: Can former NFL players return to college and participate in the NIL economy?
Sack believes they should be permitted to do so.
“They should also be able to receive NIL payments, which may be more than what they would have made as a professional athlete,” Sack said. “The court should rethink its decision and allow these players to enter the portal.”
For Wright, the decision could have a particularly personal impact. If permitted to return to college, he has said he would choose Ole Miss, where he could reunite with head coach Lane Kiffin. Wright played for Kiffin when Kiffin coached at LSU.
The case also highlights the increasingly blurred line between college and professional football as players move between the NFL, college programs and the NIL marketplace.
The NCAA has concerns that allowing former professionals to return could affect roster spots, redshirting and opportunities for incoming freshmen. But Sack argues that those concerns should not outweigh a player’s ability to use eligibility that remains available to him.
“The issue is whether these players should be prevented from continuing their football careers simply because they briefly played professionally,” Sack said. “If they have eligibility remaining, they should have the opportunity to use it.”
For more information, call Mr. Sack at (516) 526-3319 or The Law Offices of Steven Mitchell Sack at (917) 371-8000.
