Report: College football officials ask NFL about possibility of delaying 2021 draft
As college football decision-makers continue to weigh alternate solutions to having a season during the upcoming academic year, some officials are reaching out to the NFL regarding one potential possibility.
Playing a football season in the spring seems to be an idea that is gaining momentum. With a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in different regions of the country, there is growing concern that colleges won’t be able to have a football season in the fall.
That could mean delaying the season until spring.
Obviously, that would create some issues. For instance, the months of February, March and April are typically when the NFL conducts its annual scouting combine and draft. In an attempt to work with the league, officials in college football reached out to the NFL to ask if it would be interested in delaying the 2021 draft.
According to Dan Wolken of USA Today, the league has no plans to do that.
One nugget I picked up today. College football officials have quietly inquired with the NFL about whether they’d be willing to push back the 2021 draft in the event of a spring season. Unsurprisingly, the NFL isn’t interested
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) July 2, 2020
That would likely mean that if college football did move to the spring, several key players would opt out of playing to preserve their draft stock. The risk of playing games during the season would likely outweigh the reward.
No final decisions regarding the college football season have been made at this time.