Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss has used the courts — specifically, a judge with a law degree from Ole Miss — to finagle a sixth year of NCAA football eligibility. The NCAA will appeal.
Chambliss’ reasoning is simple: He would likely be picked in the third round of this year’s NFL Draft, maybe later. If he returns to Ole Miss, he’d reportedly get over $5 million in NIL money plus revenue sharing. (Big-time college football players went from begging for laundry money to getting revenue sharing.)
If Chambliss got selected in the third round, the total value of his four-year rookie contract might be less than he’ll get for one more season at Ole Miss.
Chambliss is good: He made second-team all-SEC this past season and got Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff semifinals. If he played well, Chambliss would presumably up his stock in the NFL Draft.
But, just as probably, Ole Miss will provide Chambliss’ last biggest payday.
Unless he got a seventh year of eligibility.
Chambliss forgoing the NFL Draft to grab more NIL money further confirms that big-time college football has gone from being strictly the NFL’s feeder system to being, at some level, a competing professional league.
Ole Miss essentially outbid the NFL for Chambliss.
Texas is paying quarterback Arch Manning $6.8 million to stay another season. He might have been the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft.
How does the NFL feel about that?
There’s rumor that the NFL will start playing games on Saturdays. Not just the occasional Saturday after college football has wrapped up, but all season. Essentially competing with college football for viewers.
That might seem petty, but it would mean another lucrative contract for the NFL with a network or streaming service. The NFL’s greed knows no boundaries.
This isn’t finished playing out.
