NFL Draft Process Needs Tweaking to Mirror NBA's Current System

As NBA free agency continues to befuddle football followers, there is one area where the NFL can draw inspiration from the association: the draft process.

In January, the NCAA implemented a new rule allowing underclassmen to return to college after officially declaring for the NBA draft, participating in the annual combine and being evaluated by teams. This allows a young man to gain a better perspective of his draft status. If he's unhappy with the process or his performance, or if he comes to the realization he won't be drafted where he expects, his amateur eligibility isn't affected.

There are two caveats: The player can't sign with an agent, and he must make his decision by an NCAA-appointed deadline.

Ohio State's Urban Meyer became the latest college football coach to speak out in favor of a similar system for the NFL. Meyer joined Alabama's Nick Saban and Arkansas' Bret Bielema as the most outspoken critics of the current setup.

Bielema went on the offensive after 30 underclassmen—including one of his former players, Denver Kirkland—didn't get drafted. In his mind, underclassmen can't possibly make informed decisions, and they lose a lot of money as a result.

Arkansas' head coach discussed these concerns on the Sports Talk with Bo Mattingly radio show (via NFL.com's Chase Goodbread):

"

Those coaches, I'm reaching out to them and trying to put together some collective thoughts on how to approach it. Now, some kids maybe had to move on for academic reasons or personal reasons ... But if you have a guy like Denver (Kirkland) who's on progression to graduate, is doing the right things and just needs another year....

Alex (Collins) could be in the same category. I'm glad he got taken, but I know he was planning on the third or second round (instead of the fifth). That's millions. Remember Darius Philon? (He) goes in the middle of the sixth round (last year). If he came back and played for us last year, he probably would have been a second-rounder and a very strong possibility of (being) a first-rounder, the way those D-tackles were going off the board. He's probably lost, between last year's draft and this year's draft, somewhere between $10-14 million that he will never, ever see again. That's crazy.

"

A lack of information often becomes a primary reason behind a player's draft-day tumble. NFL scouts don't thoroughly scout underclassmen as much as seniors due to time constraints and league rules. A disconnect often materializes between a player's perceived draft value and the reality of his situation.

"If you ask the NFL how can we maintain trust with our players when you're giving inaccurate information, their response is, 'We don't know enough about the guys to really give the information, because all we can really go on is film information, and that's why we have a combine and all these things,'" Saban said during the SEC's spring meeting, per CoachingSearch.com's Chris Vannini.

According to the NFL's official site, over 90 percent of those players who asked the College Advisory Committee for a draft grade in 2014 and '15 and received first- or second-round responses were drafted in the initial two rounds.

It's a relatively high number, but these are individuals being discussed. Their dreams and ultimately their lives are being drastically affected. The one or two players who didn't get picked in those rounds and started to slide down draft boards can't recoup the money they supposedly lost based on incorrect information. Yes, they can do so later in their career if they're successful, but it's certainly not guaranteed.

In an attempt to better the process, Saban suggested schools should host junior days with scouts in attendance during the spring, and Meyer echoed the sentiment, per Pro Football Talk's Zac Jackson:

"

It's not a process that's well done right now. There's a rule that says the NFL can't look at juniors. Well of course the NFL [scouts] are going to look at a junior. And they should look at a junior.

We're going to try to get something where there's a time those [scouts] can actually come in and they can work out the juniors. Because information is good. [The players] are getting their information somewhere, so why not get it from the experts — the scouts, the general managers, people who have the right information? They're getting it from agents and they're getting it from wannabes, and that's not good information.

"

Meyer and Saban's idea doesn't go far enough. It's a potential step in the right direction, but the spring is when NFL front offices are in the final phase of the draft process.

Meanwhile, the number of underclassmen continues to balloon. In total, 96 underclassmen declared for the 2016 NFL draft. A year earlier, 74 underclassmen entered the draft process. And in 2014, a record 98 declared early.

The NFL tried to stem the tide by changing its rules regarding the College Advisory Committee: Each program is only allowed to submit five requests for underclassman grades. Still, even the best in the evaluation doesn't have a 100 percent hit rate, as noted by sports law and business analyst Warren K. Zola:

When evaluating individuals, many different factors come into play. They can't all be accounted for in a very short period of time. It's impossible to completely understand who a person is off the field and the player he is on it.

Some do adhere to the grades from the committee and better their draft status. For example, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent claimed six players—Sheldon Rankins, Karl Joseph, Josh Doctson, William Jackson III, Vernon Butler and Germain Ifedi—waited after receiving a non-favorable recommendation the previous year and went on to become first-round picks in April.

But it's difficult to tell a young man not to pursue his dream of becoming a professional athlete. Some wouldn't listen even if they knew they would go undrafted, as the Associated Press' Ralph Russo argued:

The NCAA's new approach isn't perfect either. In fact, a record number of underclassmen went undrafted in the NBA draft last month.

Nike's director of international basketball George Raveling posted the startling numbers:

There are always extenuating circumstances where individuals may need to pursue a career to support their family, children or whatever the case may be. But the ability for each person to make the best possible and most informed choice should be the goal.

"If [an underclassman] could sit down with NFL people or personnel people that are making the decisions firsthand, I think it could be a great resource," Bielema told the Associated Press (h/t USA Today).

A resource that could benefit all parties.

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @brentsobleski.