Can you play in the NFL without a high school diploma?

Answer 1

The likelihood of a high school graduate going straight to the NFL is slim to none. It is in your best interested to go and play in college, this will increase your chances of getting noticed by agents for the NFL. Keep your grades up, your head on straight, and your nose clean and you should be good to go.

Answer 2

Theoretically, you could play in the NFL without a high school diploma. However, the NFL will not draft or sign someone until three years after their high school class had graduated (ie after your junior year of college).

Here's the thing though, a lot of players begin their base knowledge of the game in high school (some begin much earlier too in Pop Warner). Without going to high school there would be no way to replace that knowledge (practical and theoretical) and you would always be behind those who did know how to play.

Secondly NFL teams like players who have played at a high skill level in college. Without getting a high school diploma you cannot get into a college. Without that experience 99.99% of professional football teams wouldn't even offer you a tryout let alone contemplate signing such a player.

Lastly, if you don't get a high school diploma, you wont be very smart. The NFL ha a test they like all prospects to take called the Wonderlic. The Wonderlic measures native intelligence. If you don't do well in school, you cannot do well on such a test.

So basically while in a team might just might once in a blue moon sign a player without a high school diploma, chances of that happening are so slim that it would not in all reality happen.

Moral of the story? Stay in School. Study Hard. Practice Hard. Learn to use both your Body and your Brain.

Answer 3

It is possible, but not really likely. Without the experience of playing College Football, you don't have the exposure and knowledge levels required to be successful in the NFL.

Answer 4

no