The most appalling new rule in football just indirectly reached the Miami Dolphins
A former Miami Dolphins player is going back to school…to play football again.
The Miami Dolphins are less than a week away from trimming their roster by nearly half. Miami will play their final preseason contest on Friday night against the Atlanta Falcons. Within a few days, the roster will be trimmed to 53 players.
But the roster churn has been quite active all summer for Miami anyway. And now? One player that they’re recently said goodbye to is set to make the most extreme team change we’ve ever seen for an NFL player — by going back to school. Yes, to play football. This new trend was long considered unthinkable. But some fine print and a new ruling regarding NCAA eligibility has allowed some NFL rookies, including former Miami Dolphins running back Anthony Hankerson, to turn tail and return to school to play another season.
Former Miami Dolphins running back Anthony Hankerson is headed back to school
You won’t find a single person in the football world who seems to think this is a good idea, by the way. Not one. Not necessarily for Hankerson as an individual. But this opening of Pandora’s Box to allow NFL players to turn back and return to school for additional eligibility? The chaos is unparalleled. Hankerson signed with the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted rookie back this spring after four seasons of college play. He was released this summer by Miami and signed with the Seattle Seahawks. He’d played two years at Colorado and another two at Oregon State.
Things, apparently, went no better for Hankerson in the Pacific Northwest than they did in South Florida. He was released on Monday. But now the former Miami Dolphins running back has reportedly decided to head back to school.
Welcome to the most slippery of slopes. We’ve seen these moves start to trickle in over the past week or so, thanks to a new ruling this summer regarding NCAA eligibility. You now get five seasons in five years. So every player who left after four years this spring is, technically, eligible to add an additional year — even if they’ve received compensation from a professional franchise. So here we are, with fringe NFL players like Hankerson opting for another season of play instead of playing this season on an NFL practice squad.
It’s all supremely messy. And just a few years ago, it would have been considered impossible. But as the college football landscape continues to rapidly evolve, it’s become the modern day equivalent of the Wild, Wild West. And now, thanks to Hankerson, it’s implications have indirectly reached the Miami Dolphins for the first time.
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