star safety Kyle Hamilton, just like us?
Not quite. The average person isn’t one of the NFL’s best safeties, but Hamilton shares some college football fans’ frustrations with the sport’s direction. With the College Football Playoff potentially expanding to 24 teams in the 2027-28 season and NIL reshaping the sport, the three-time Pro Bowler isn’t thrilled with where college football is headed.
“Yeah, I kind of hate where college football is headed, honestly. Just, I think the NIL is kind of getting kind of exploited, and 24 teams in a playoff. I don’t think there’s 24 teams that can win a championship,” Hamilton told OutKick in a recent interview.
While college football is embracing the tournament style, the former Notre Dame star doesnt think its fair to the players.
“I think the tournament is its own thing. I understand like baseball has the College World Series and basketball has March Madness, but football is just a different sport. Like asking kids to do spring ball, do summer workouts, do that, and then like perform their best going into the draft, combine prep, like it’s kind of unfair,” Hamilton said.
“But I do not make those decisions, so I will sit back and watch, like a good fan.”
The 25-year-old played at Notre Dame from 2019 to 2021, when NIL was in its infancy.
“I had it for six months. I was the first wave, I guess, of NIL, and that’s when it was truly name, image and likeness. I would do like an apparel deal for like 1500 merch and be ecstatic, and it was awesome,” Hamilton said.
While Hamilton is happy college athletes are now being paid, he acknowledged that there needs to be a salary cap to maintain fairness.
“Nowadays, kids are getting like millions of dollars. I don’t want to sound like a hater, ’cause they’re getting paid, and I’m glad they are, but if that’s the case, there needs to be a salary cap or something, so that it’s fair for all the teams,” Hamilton said.
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Hamilton said there is a little more “instant gratification” among todays rookies than when he first entered the NFL.
“It’s also funny when guys have to get up to saying, they have to say the name, school, signing bonus, and their NIL money, what they made at NIL, so that’s kind of a new thing that’s going around the league,” Hamilton said.
When asked if he needed to humble any rookies who arrive in the NFL with pockets full of cash, Hamilton said the game does that for him.
“I mean, that kind of just happens naturally through camp and, you know, playing against Lamar Jackson in practice, but I think, yeah, the NFL and just football in general is very humbling games, so it’ll, it’ll happen at some point,” Hamilton said.
As he has gotten further from playing for the Fighting Irish, Hamilton said he doesnt pay as much attention as he used to, but he was locked in for then-No. 11 Notre Dames win over then-No. 1 Miami on Saturday night.
The two-time first-team All-Pro selection said he hasnt been back for a game yet, vowing to return only after he graduates, which he said will be about a year from now.
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The Ravens have had a hectic couple of weeks at the quarterback position.
In Week 8, Lamar Jackson was returning from his ankle injury against the Buffalo Bills, but he was injured on his first play back. Bills linebacker Greg Rousseau hit Jacksons hand as he fol
