Nobody is saying it "makes you a 1st rounder" and its laughable you think being on a practice squad for a few years means any real money whatsoever. You make $125k tops and then have to pay for an agent, trainer, nutritionist, etc.
People here are saying there is little downside to staying (basically just career ending injury) if you are NOT a guaranteed 1-3rd round player.
Get your degree and have a fallback of becoming a cop/firefighter/teacher/coach/etc ... all of which require a degree.
And I wasn't suggesting a practice player is rich, but let's not pretend a 100K is poverty either.
Not sure where you are getting 125K. It is simply not true. Highest payout is about 150K. lowest could be 88K. But this is just an example of people not knowing how any of it actually works.
Agent don't make as much as people think. I don't expect you to know this but at least don't just throw out info like you do. There are different fees for different players and a practice squad guy is not paying the large fees actual players do, in fact representation is a quite small for them.
A player could pay as little as 1.5% to an agent or less in some circumstances.
And an agent is not going to invest 25K to 50K to train, teach and supply the player if the agent is not going to get a return on that investment. The agent is not going to babysit a player they are not getting a return on.
Meaning very little attention is given to some practice squad player other than minimal fees to represent the first signing. They are not paying all that other crap you think happens for these guys. No trainers, no nutritionist, no etc. 99% of this is for the richest 1%. No guy making minimum is getting all that either. This is all Jerry Maguire stuff.... The funny thing is agents typically pay for this out of pocket...not the player so you have that wromng too.
A player can still do all those things from cop to teacher. I'm not sure people think this has to be done with such urgency. They have their entire life to get that degree. One year is not going to matter when getting your degree but one year can be a difference maker for a player's window to play in the NFL, as short as those careers are.
But players understand the unpredictable nature of the game. No money is Guaranteed. hurt your knee...your gone. They have roommates, share bills and work other jobs in the off season and work
on their degree. But all in all they do it because their opportunities in the NFL are increased by being in the NFL as opposed to college.
They do it because it is their dream to be in the NFL....few players are going to give up that chance to come back and play for some 7 win team.