01-05-2016, 12:38 PM
It's weirder for Christian since it's not like his family is desperately poor and needs the money that the NFL will bring. I get it when it's someone in those circumstances, but the McCaffreys are probably quite wealthy. Getting the NFL contract this year won't materially change their lives any, which almost certainly isn't true of many NFL prospects (like, from the sounds of it, Henry). Sure, it's not Christian's money, but he'll make plenty over his career anyway (barring injury, obviously). So if you're looking at without that in play, you have:
Pro-leaving
1) Less wear-and-tear on your body, which could (but isn't guaranteed to!) increase NFL legacy and total NFL earnings.
2) Less time spent under the NCAA's idiotic restrictions.
3) Can still finish degree eventually.
Pro-staying
1) More time to cement CFB legacy.
2) More time with classmates, in the college environment, etc.
3) Get degree in the "normal" time, which is also within NCAA's/fed's window, helps program.
So really it comes down to whether you want to get your degree in the standard time, have another year of being a college kid, and helping your alma mater out, or whether you want the challenge of the NFL and the freedom of being fully an adult. It's not obvious that someone in Christian's situation would definitely want to leave, and as we saw with Luck those players don't always leave, even if the pundits take it for granted that they will. (I don't know if Hooper's in this situation, I know nothing about his family.)
JPRI, if anything the money is worse now than it was then, since there's now a rookie wage scale and back then there wasn't. Manning signed a 6-year, $48M deal with a $11.6M signing bonus in 1998, whereas Winston's deal last year was 4-years for $25.35M (details apparently not known). So despite a massive inflation in the salary cap (and a bunch of general inflation since then), the deals for the #1 pick aren't that much more generous now than they were in the late nineties.
But, of course, if you're drafted in the first couple of rounds the money is still quite a lot in nominal terms, and to shrug that off for a year you and your family have to already be quite comfortable.
Pro-leaving
1) Less wear-and-tear on your body, which could (but isn't guaranteed to!) increase NFL legacy and total NFL earnings.
2) Less time spent under the NCAA's idiotic restrictions.
3) Can still finish degree eventually.
Pro-staying
1) More time to cement CFB legacy.
2) More time with classmates, in the college environment, etc.
3) Get degree in the "normal" time, which is also within NCAA's/fed's window, helps program.
So really it comes down to whether you want to get your degree in the standard time, have another year of being a college kid, and helping your alma mater out, or whether you want the challenge of the NFL and the freedom of being fully an adult. It's not obvious that someone in Christian's situation would definitely want to leave, and as we saw with Luck those players don't always leave, even if the pundits take it for granted that they will. (I don't know if Hooper's in this situation, I know nothing about his family.)
JPRI, if anything the money is worse now than it was then, since there's now a rookie wage scale and back then there wasn't. Manning signed a 6-year, $48M deal with a $11.6M signing bonus in 1998, whereas Winston's deal last year was 4-years for $25.35M (details apparently not known). So despite a massive inflation in the salary cap (and a bunch of general inflation since then), the deals for the #1 pick aren't that much more generous now than they were in the late nineties.
But, of course, if you're drafted in the first couple of rounds the money is still quite a lot in nominal terms, and to shrug that off for a year you and your family have to already be quite comfortable.