Sources: NCAA defectors can't play for NFL team in 2026

Key Points:

• The NFL will inform teams that players returning to college football are prohibited from signing with NFL teams during the current season, reinforcing existing rules amid recent eligibility controversies.
• The league emphasized that players signed and then cut by NFL teams become free agents who can sign with other NFL clubs, the CFL, or return to college without being subject to the draft.
• This clarification comes after two NFL players, Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, left their NFL teams to join LSU, having been granted an extra year of college eligibility by a court order.
• Wright and Harris, former Ole Miss players under coach Lane Kiffin, can regain NCAA eligibility by terminating their NFL contracts and repaying professional earnings.
• Wright cleared NFL waivers and is expected to officially sign with LSU, highlighting the unusual intersection of NCAA eligibility rules and NFL contracts.