Thanks to the extra COVID year of eligibility granted by the NCAA following the 2020 season, schools and universities have listed their athletes under differing descriptions. Some decided to automatically advance their players to the next season, despite the free year of eligibility while some others decided to keep their athletes at the same year of eligibility they were in following the 2021 season.
To avoid confusion here in our NFL Draft Underclassmen Tracker, we’ve decided to track all the decisions from any player that has either accepted an invitation to an All-Star game following the season or has publically declared their intent to enter the draft or return to school. We’ve also listed them by their appropriate year/class as it was stated on their respective school roster page.
That just means you’ll see a “sophomore declaring for the draft” when in reality, this is a third-year player or even a “redshirt-senior declaring for the draft” because that player may have a free year of eligibility still to use.
Unlike last year, when a special declaration deadline was set, this year’s 2023 NFL Draft declaration deadline has been set in stone. All underclassmen willing to declare for the 2023 NFL Draft must apply for Special Eligibility with the NFL by January 16, 2023.
A list of all underclassmen who have been approved for entry into the 2023 NFL Draft will then be sent out to all 32 NFL teams on January 20, 2023.