[Farm93]

If the NFL really wanted to help kids graduate and stay in school, they would start all formal activities for rookies after mid-June, and, in fact, they would hold the draft in June.  It might not keep students in school (after all, many would not enroll in the spring quarter in order to prepare for the draft).

BC

Why wait until mid-June?  The BigTen and SEC schools almost all finish up in early May.  The current structure allows most of the FBS players to leave their highly structured life as a college scholarship athlete and go directly to the NFL camps.

Over the years waiting until June would have only helped Stanford and a small number of other schools.
Waiting until June would have left a bunch of athletes with a ~30 window away from their college handlers.  That sounds like a PR disaster waiting to happen.
Current timing works for most schools, and the league rule prevents NFL teams from encouraging quarter based kids to drop out.

FWIW - When is a good time for football players to take courses?  The fall is bad, obviously.  For a senior the winter is not great as the combine prep, combine week and NFL pre-draft workouts consume time.  The spring is not helpful for those one the edge of make an NFL roster, but if one needs just a few credits....

[Farm93]

If the NFL really wanted to help kids graduate and stay in school, they would start all formal activities for rookies after mid-June, and, in fact, they would hold the draft in June.  It might not keep students in school (after all, many would not enroll in the spring quarter in order to prepare for the draft).

BC

Why wait until mid-June?  The BigTen and SEC schools almost all finish up in early May.  The current structure allows most of the FBS players to leave their highly structured life as a college scholarship athlete and go directly to the NFL camps.

Over the years waiting until June would have only helped Stanford and a small number of other schools.
Waiting until June would have left a bunch of athletes with a ~30 window away from their college handlers.  That sounds like a PR disaster waiting to happen.
Current timing works for most schools, and the league rule prevents NFL teams from encouraging quarter based kids to drop out.

FWIW - When is a good time for football players to take courses?  The fall is bad, obviously.  For a senior the winter is not great as the combine prep, combine week and NFL pre-draft workouts consume time.  The spring is not helpful for those one the edge of make an NFL roster, but if one needs just a few credits....