Top-tier college recruits shouldn&#x27;t need a gateway to the NFL with their talent level.<p>We can stick with a tech metaphor: It would be like all tech companies and startups and VCs colluding to require a certain number of years in college before being willing to hire or fund anyone. And the universities would own any apps&#x2F;code the kids wrote while they were in school. Obviously it would be ludicrously imbalanced for the top 18-year-olds in that situation to give up that much earning potential in exchange for a &quot;gateway&quot; to a profession that <i>needs them anyway.</i><p>Sadly people really get into tribalism, and have much stronger ties to their college than they would to any local minor league team, so there&#x27;s tremendous amounts of money in play to maintain the status quo.