Joe Burrow had quite a senior season. He won the Heisman Trophy, he led LSU to the national championship, he was the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, and he signed a contract worth more than $36 million in guaranteed money.
If college football had been canceled one year earlier due to COVID-19, however, Burrow wouldn’t be where he is today. In fact, if that were the case, Burrow said he “may be looking for a job right now.”
What impact would a lost season have on current college football players?
“I think he’s an extreme case, there’s no doubt about it,” former NFL GM Randy Mueller said on After Hours with Amy Lawrence, referring to Burrow. “But from the standpoint of evaluating these kids, you’re going to look at the last film that’s available. The NFL part won’t change much at all, but for the kids’ sake, it’ll definitely change. Those that had a good year last year as a part-time starter get a chance to develop their game as seniors where they start 10 or 12 more games, obviously they’re going to be seen at a different level. They’re going to have a much better feel for what they’re doing. They’re not thinking; they’re actually playing football. We won’t get a chance to see that as NFL scouts. So that part is going to be a missing link.
“But it’s to be determined, I guess,” Mueller continued. “Maybe some guys play this fall, other guys play next spring – who knows how the leagues are going to work out? But it sure puts things up in question, that’s for sure. I would feel bad for these kids if they never got to play another down before they had to enter an NFL Draft, that’s for sure.”
The Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed fall sports Tuesday, with hopes of playing in the spring. It remains to be seen what other conferences – including the SEC, ACC and Big 12 – will do.
“It’s very unfortunate,” Mueller said. “I feel bad for the kids at all levels, really. You talk about high school seniors that never got a chance to finish their season as well. It’s a bad deal. It’s hard on everybody. Everybody wants to know how it affects your NFL status, and really from that standpoint, it won’t because they’ll look at the last film available. But these kids are the ones that miss out on the experiences, and that’s happened throughout our whole country – actually, throughout the whole world. We’ll see. Hopefully there’s something good that can come out of it Hopefully they will get some more snaps and a little bigger body of work. Who knows? It’s just crazy.”