In a recent article my colleague René Böheim and me show that playing football in the NCAA does have positive returns in terms of later starting salaries of NFL professionals. We find that forgoing to declare for the draft and staying in collegiate football does increase rookie salaries considerably by about 12 %, amounting in about $130,000.
We interpreted the training, coaching and in-game experience that athletes receive in college as a form of education. The returns to this specific type of education are strikingly close to those that were measured for formal education, i.e. years of schooling. In the 2010 NFL draft one player made headlines because he, in contrast to most NFL professionals, has amounted substantially more formal education compared to "football-specific education". The name of this player is Myron Rolle. Rolle played three good seasons at the Florida State University as a Defensive Back and was a solid prospect as a Safety in the NFL. However, prior to the 2008/9 NCAA season, Rolle was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and studied MSc in Medical Anthropology at Oxford University for the 2009/10 academic. He earned a MSc in Medical Anthropology and was even chosen as the second smartest professional athlete by the Sporting News.
Well, was he that smart after all? By losing a season in college, staying away from football-specific activities and forgoing to maximize his amount of football education in favor of formal education, he might have cost himself a lot in terms of later returns. Soon after being drafted by the Tennessee Titans in round 6 (207th overall) Rolle's NFL career went south. He spent one entire season on the Titans’ practice squad and was released from the team in September 2011. He made the headlines again just a few days ago as he was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers to a reserve/future contract. So maybe he gets a final chance to make it to the pros. My guess is, however, that he will never realize the returns to his football potential. He definitely has the talent (his play at FSU shows that) and he had good size and was a above-average athlete (4.54 s on the 40 in the NFL Scouting Combine). But he could not make it at a team that was really in need of a good secondary defender. So he will probably struggle to make one of the best defensive team in the NFL now. And this second chance comes at a point where he is even further away from football than in 2010, where he never saw the field of play.
The results clearly show that education (in various forms) has positive returns. However, it is crucial to chose the adequate education for the career one pursues. Arguably Myron Rolle made the wrong decisions as the overall potential income in the NFL might have been higher than the life-time income of any neurosurgeon. If his football career indeed finally fails I hope he will have a tremendous career outside of the NFL as a surgeon. My guess is that he is better educated for that. As a football player, Rolle outsmarted himself.
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