Fifty-plus get special entry to 2025 draft

January 18, 2025

NFL announces list of draft eligible underclassmen … The NFL has released the formal list of underclassmen given special entry to the 2025 late last week. The list includes a total 55 3rd year juniors and redshirt sophomores who who needed special permission to enter the upcoming draft; the NFL also included on the list 15 players who had already graduated and didn’t need special entry. In fact, the number of players granted special entry this year was the same as last year when the total was 54. However, those numbers are well below those in earlier years. Indeed, 82 underclassmen, for example, were accorded special entry to the 2022 draft, while the figure was around 100 in the immediate preceding years. Needless to say, the emergence of NIL opportunities have provided younger college players with an alternative to making some money rather than simply trying to get to the NFL as fast as possible to get to free agency as fast as possible. In fact, almost all those underclassmen that did apply for early entry to the upcoming draft are reasonably prominent prospects with only a handful falling in the likely late round/free agent area.