NFL Says Greg Paulus Is Draft Eligible, But Questions Remain

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to FanHouse Thursday that former Duke basketball player Greg Paulus is eligible to be selected in next weekend's NFL Draft, meaning that the former Gatorade National High School Football Player of the Year could go to the NFL without playing football in college.

But questions remain about Paulus' athletic future.

For starters, Paulus seems more interested in using his remaining year of NCAA football eligibility to play at Michigan. He said today that he has been offered a scholarship at Michigan and considers it an option. It's bizarre, to say the least, that the NFL says a player who still has NCAA football eligibility remaining is able to be drafted.

The odds of Paulus being drafted are remote, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. Paulus confirmed today on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption that the Packers worked him out.

"The Green Bay Packers started the conversation, and they wanted to see what I can do," Paulus said. "As a result, a couple days after the basketball season ended I went to the practice field and started throwing and working out, and I ended up working out for them about a week and a half later."

The Packers wouldn't be working Paulus out a couple weeks before the draft if they didn't think it was at least possible that they could decide to draft him. What happens if the Packers draft Paulus, and Paulus also accepts the scholarship from Michigan?

If the Packers draft Paulus, they own his rights until the 2010 draft. Even if he enrolls at Michigan and starts playing football in the Big House, he's still property of the Packers as far as the NFL is concerned. Theoretically, could Paulus take the scholarship to Michigan and get drafted next weekend, play in September for Michigan and then quit the Michigan team, sign with the team that drafts him and start playing in the NFL in October?

Make no mistake, Paulus is not in the same boat as the dozens of juniors who left college early to enter next weekend's NFL draft. Those juniors all had to give up their eligibility back in January when they declared for the draft. Paulus has not forgone his eligibility -- he's actively saying that he's still eligible for college football and seriously considering enrolling at Michigan.

So if January was the deadline for all those juniors to forgo their eligibility, why does Paulus get to draw out his decision about college or the NFL into April, and maybe beyond? The NFL's rules seem inconsistent here, and things could get really dicey if Paulus ends up both accepting a scholarship to Michigan and getting drafted by the Packers.