Craig Woodson

[SunsetBengal]

(04-16-2025, 06:13 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Yea when you factor in the bad players.

But if you're going into the draft just expecting to get 3-4 years out of players, that's not the right mentality, IMO.

Every draft pick whether 1st round or 7th round should be with a vision to get into a multi-year 2nd contract, even if they just end up as a depth/ST player.

With that said, yes a 24 year old, if good enough, should be able to stick around the league for a multi-year 2nd contract, as that would get them to about 30 years old.

My main concern with 24 year olds entering the league is were they just doing well in college because they are going against dudes 4-5 years younger than them in some/many cases? And how much more growth are they going to have, as that's typically the age NFL players hit their peak physical growth?

Woodson might be about as capped out and ready as he'll ever be.
And that may be good for some circumstances because you may want someone who's ready immediately.
But if you want or need further growth beyond what they are now, you may not get much more.

In this day and age with the way the CBA is written, position coaches simply do not get enough hands-on time with the players to finish their development. Prior to NIL there were guys coming out early that really could have benefitted from another year of College coaching, simply because of financial reasons. Now that money is less of an issue for players still in school, I think that it's great that more of them are opting to stay their Senior year of eligibility. Obviously there are superstars that clearly head and shoulder above most of their contemporaries, and they rightfully should declare early and enter the draft after 3 years in order to maximize their NFL earning lifetimes.

Every year 256 players get drafted, plus UDFAs. NFL 53 man roster spot total 1,696 jobs, and an additional maximum allotment of 512 unsecured positions on practice squads. There simply aren't that many openings for jobs on teams each year, in order for every guy wanting to enter the league to find a job, let alone stick around for 10-12 years. The overall quality of play in the league will benefit from guys being fully developed when they reach the professional level.