Oregon's Dan Lanning Rages Against NFL Players Return to College Football

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Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning and his college football coaching peers are dealing with a late turn of events in training camp when it comes to rosters. 

Thanks to an NCAA loophole, some judges have granted players in the 2022 class an opportunity to return to college football for a fifth season, even if they tried out for an NFL team this spring and summer. 

Some players are allowed to transfer, while some are only eligible to play for the school they were at in 2025. 

With a few days before Week 0 begins on Saturday, some players are looking for a place to play college football, while more players could be joining the college ranks when NFL teams trip their rosters to 53 men on Aug. 30.

Lanning thinks it's unfair for players to return from the NFL, noting that it means another player on the roster will be dismissed.

“I think there’s a lot of negatives that are involved around this,” Lanning said, via ON3. “One, once you go to the NFL, to me, you’re in the NFL. You don’t get the opportunity to come back. Two, most of us have built our rosters and you have a limited roster limit now. 

"So if you invited somebody back to your team, that means you’re kicking somebody else off your team to match your roster limits. I don’t think that’s fair to the players that worked all summer, all spring and put themselves in position to be ready to work for a team to have somebody come back."

Lanning thinks players should no longer be deemed amateurs when they go to the scouting combine and sign contracts with NFL teams.

“But ultimately, it used to be once you had an agent or once you went and did the combine … all those things qualified as you were no longer an amateur," Lanning said. You’re a professional now, once you declare for the draft. 

"So to let any of those players come back, fair or unfair to them, it’s unfair to the sport and I think it’s unfair to the players that are on current teams for those guys to be coming back.”

Of course, players have agents now for college football contracts. The line has been blurred between amateur and professional in Lanning's neck of the woods, and college football is looking more and more like the pros every year. 

Maybe soon, there could be roster cuts in late August.

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