Tom Krasovic: NCAA's transfer-fest has helped NFL, which gets its rookie QBs trained for free

SAN DIEGO — Some sports industries have all the luck.

See the NFL, which opens its 2024 season Thursday night in Kansas City.

As if collecting massive stadium subsidies handed out by politicians like Halloween candy wasn’t enough, the NFL has gathered a new windfall without having to extort anyone.

Because federal judges as far back as 2018 saw the NCAA for what it is — a cartel whose claims wouldn’t stand 10 seconds in Judge Judy’s courtroom — the NFL can now pick from more quarterbacks who have a better chance to succeed.

Student-athletes no longer have to sit out a season after transferring. The move has enabled prospective NFL QBs to play more football and often with multiple power-conference schools.

It’s nothing these days for a QB who needs more developmental time to play for two schools and log some 40 to 60 games before his eligibility expires.

The NFL benefits, gratis.

There’s no need anymore for the league to think about funding a developmental league such as its European venture that, decades ago, before the bean-counters axed it, seeded the careers of opportunity-needy QBs such as future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner and fellow Super Bowl starter Jake Delhomme.

Footing the bill is the college-industrial complex, now sending a more mature QB prospect to the NFL — such as the three current rookies who played in at least 48 games before going in the draft’s first round.

Bo Nix, the sixth of six QBs chosen before the 15th pick, was named by Broncos coach Sean Payton to start this week’s season opener.

The last time a Broncos rookie QB got that assignment was 1983, when John Elway’s Hall of Fame career was launched.

Nix spent more college time at football facilities than the studious brainiacs at UC San Diego put in at the campus library. He logged 61 games with Auburn and Oregon, an FBS record.

“He’s played a lot of college football,” Elway said, “so he’s ahead of the curve when it comes to that.”

The 24-year-old Nix beat out holdover Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson this summer, inflating Broncos hopes that the 0-since-Peyton-Manning QB drought will end.

Fellow savvy rookie Jayden Daniels, coming off a 55-game career, is certain to be pestered by LSU and Arizona State alumni groups for donations after earning a $37.7 million, fully guaranteed NFL contract by going second to Washington in this year’s draft.

Telling Daniels “he absolutley crushed it,” coach Dan Quinn named the 23-year-old who begins his work days at 5:45 a.m. as only the second rookie QB drafted by Washington to start Week 1.

Rookie Michael Penix Jr. appreciates the college game’s expanded opportunities, too.

A 24-year-old who logged 48 games with Indiana and Washington within a six-year career imperiled by two season-ending injuries, Penix played well enough this summer as the backup to Kirk Cousins that the Falcons traded 29-game starter Taylor Heinicke to the Chargers for a sixth-round conditional draft pick.

Philip Rivers was still quarterbacking the Chargers when Penix excelled as true freshman in 2018, doing things like leading his Indiana Hoosiers to a second-half lead against Penn State.

San Bernardino’s Daniels a year later became the first true freshman QB in Arizona State’s history to start a season opener for the Sun Devils. As he did, Nix became the first true freshman QB to start for Auburn in its opener since 1946.

Some QBs thrive with just one school, and may not need a fourth or fifth season.

Rancho Cucamonga’s C.J. Stroud, for example, went from starting 25 games in his three-year career at Ohio State to going second in the draft and leading the Texans to the AFC South title and a playoff win as a 22-year-old rookie last year.

But make no mistake: the NCAA’s transfer-mania has improved the NFL’s QB pool.

Joe Burrow was something of an ordinary Joe until the graduate-transfer rule enabled him to go directly from Ohio State to LSU’s active roster. Two years later, he went first in the NFL draft. He was in the Super Bowl two seasons later, leading the Bengals.

Jalen Hurts welcomed not having to sit out a year after freshman Tua Tagovailoa all but took the Alabama job from him ahead of his senior year. At Oklahoma, he thrived in Lincoln Riley’s passing offense, took a 56-game resume into the NFL and guided the Eagles to a Super Bowl in his third season.

The NFL still has a QB problem. There aren’t enough good ones to go around.

But the lawyers who improved the options for college athletes did The League a big favor.