Yes but there's no incentive for the NFL to invest into a farm system with things working as they are. The NCAA is going to have to come up with a solution to this problem and it can't be switching to a baseball model that won't work for 99.99% of the football players.
Exactly. Which is why the "if they want to get paid they should go pro" argument doesn't really work here.
One option that might work is the development of a minor league - maybe it's the XFL or AFA - that gives a professional option to talented kids who aren't NFL-ready but want to get paid something and not "play school." But after watching those leagues try, I don't see how the economics really work without sizable subsidy from the NFL. And at present the NFL has no reason to subsidize it, because college football develops players better anyway, for free.
The other is, sort of as LAX suggested, major reform to the NCAA system that:
A: Holds schools accountable for the promises they make to students (four-year scholarships, good/better academic counseling, serious consequences for low graduation rates, etc.) so that that free college tuition players receive is actually worth something.
And
B: Gives athletes in revenue sports some modest, standardized, compensation. They've gotten better at this in recent years with the stipends and such. But a standard base "salary" would go a long way to defusing this argument. I'm not sure what the right number is, but, say, $40,000 a year is a good living for a 20 year old (who also gets free housing and food), enables them to help their family, etc. And across an 85-man roster it would only cost $3.4 million a year. Pretty sure most P5 programs could find that in the couch cushions.
Those two things - a real education and a fair, modest, pay structure - would do a lot to solve this, I think. But the schools have to want to.
