NFLPA Votes To Eliminate "Junior Rule" Barring Agents From Campuses

The NFLPA Board of Player Reps at its meeting this past week voted to eliminate the so-called "Junior Rule,” sources said. The rule prohibits NFLPA certified agents from contacting college football players until they are three years past high school graduation. It was widely disliked by NFL player agents, who said it gave marketing agents and financial advisers the upper hand in recruiting top football talent.

The rule was first passed in '07 under the leadership of the late, former NFLPA Exec Dir Gene Upshaw. Upshaw said at the time that he was urged by college football coaches to install the rule to stop NFL player agents from visiting campuses early. But the rule has not stopped college juniors from declaring, with a record number of underclassmen, 65, have been declared eligible for next month's NFL Draft.