There have been a record number of underclassmen who have declared for the NFL Draft this year.  65 to be exact.  This is well over the record of 56 that declared for last years. One of the main reasons seems like it has to do with the new labor agreement (remember that lockout thing?).  Well rookie contracts are now almost half of what they had been in previous years.  This encourages these players to get into the league early, get through their rookie contracts sooner, and move on to the larger stipends that come along with their second contracts.

This basically gets rid of any incentive to remain in college to better their draft status for the following years.  Hopefully they can figure this out so it does not turn into a nightmare like college basketball.