Yea he should wait for the NFL advisory board to weigh in before making a decision. I would love to have him back.
For me, in evaluating if it is a good decision or not, I think one has to consider the financial situation of his family. Which I do not know for Coley. If his family are struggling, then the prospect of making at the minimum $435,000 a year is pretty enticing.
Even if he would get paid millions more if he stayed and had a great season, the constant fear of a big injury has to haunt the entire family every time he goes out there if they know their future well-being depended on his health. From that perspective, you would not want to give up the guaranteed 435k. Which in of itself would totally transform the lives of almost every American family.
It's a fair and real concern for some of the guys, but there's now insurance to lessen the risk. Also, even in a situation where you have a serious injury (God forbid), you can now come back from a knee in less than a year.
I think it's a risk for him to come back, but one that may be worth it.
Here are the numbers:
If he leaves, I think he may be looking at a 5th round selection. That's Rashad Greene money. Total amount of contract is somewhere around 2.5M. Total amount guaranteed is like 250k. Signing bonus is also around 250k. His first four years in the league, he gets 435k, 525k, 615k, 705k.
If he comes back, I think he's looking at, worst case scenario (without a serious injury), Chris Conley (former UGA WR, ironically) money. Total amount of contract is somewhere around 3.1M. Total amount guaranteed is like 700k. Signing bonus is also around 700k. Same type of escalation, but obviously an average salary HIGHER than any single year in the scenario of Greene money.
The real key here is whether he believes he could gain some size and ball out under Richt. If so, his best case scenario becomes something closer to Devin Smith. That's still not even a 1st round pick, but looks like this: 5.9M total value. Something around a 2.5M bonus. Base salaries of 435k, 701k, 968k, 1.23k. That's an entirely separate level.
Hope he thinks it through and wish him well regardless.