Welcome to Bad Takes Week, where MMQB staffers have been asked to expand upon some of their worst football takes. Keep an eye out for more of these throughout the week, and every story is posted here.
The NFL’s had a free farm system forever—and college football’s been so good to pro football in so many ways that there’s no way owners could ever repay those at that level of the sport (not that this set of billionaires would ever want to) for all they’ve done.
College ball develops players from teenagers with oversized frames and athletic potential into readymade prospects at no cost to the pros. They put them on big stages. They give the league recognizable, marketable stars who fuel not just the draft cycle, but even the worst teams’ abilities to generate optimism during a time of year when nothing’s happening. More recently, there’s been schematic and team-building innovation that’s trickled up, too.
