Browns Tight End Dae'Quan Wright Enters College Transfer Portal While Still on NFL Roster

Cleveland Browns tight end Dae'Quan Wright filed into the NCAA transfer portal on Thursday, August 20, according to CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz. Wright is still on Cleveland's roster right now. He previously spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles before landing in Cleveland as an undrafted free agent out of Ole Miss.

This marks the first time an active NFL player has entered the college transfer portal, according to multiple outlets including Larry Brown Sports and the NY Post.

How This Happened

A Louisiana state court judge issued a temporary restraining order on Wednesday, August 19, covering Wright and 32 other athletes in a lawsuit against the NCAA, according to ESPN's reporting cited across the NY Post, Deadspin, and 921theticket.com. Sixteen of those athletes are football players. The order gives them a path back to college sports for one more season.

The lawsuit argues the NCAA breached its "covenant of good faith" by refusing to grant a fifth year of eligibility to players in the 2022 recruiting class, even as the NCAA extended that same five-year eligibility window to players before and after them, according to the NY Post. The Louisiana ruling followed a separate case in Colorado, where a judge already granted 2022-class athletes a fifth year. The NCAA is appealing that Colorado ruling, according to Deadspin's report, which cited Field Level Media.

Players under the Louisiana restraining order have seven days to enter the transfer portal. A court date in the case is scheduled for August 31, according to ESPN's reporting as relayed by Deadspin and 921theticket.com.

Who Else Is In Play

Wright was the only athlete currently on an NFL roster to enter the portal as of Thursday afternoon, per ESPN's count cited by Deadspin. Seven of the 16 football players named in the case had entered the portal by Thursday.

Two other players in active NFL camps have a path to do what Wright did: Jack Pyburn of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a former LSU defensive lineman, and Wydett Williams Jr. of the Arizona Cardinals, according to ESPN's reporting carried by Deadspin and 921theticket.com. Bolavip also named Seattle Seahawks running back T.J. Harden, an SMU alum, as one of the plaintiffs who could follow.

Under current rules, players in NFL camps lose their eligibility path if they're still on an NFL roster past September 1, according to Larry Brown Sports. That deadline is the real pressure point. Teams are making roster cuts in the coming days, and any player waived by his NFL team suddenly has a legitimate offer to go back and play college football, get paid through NIL deals or revenue-sharing agreements, and avoid the practice squad grind.

The NCAA's Response

NCAA senior vice president of external affairs Tim Buckley pushed back hard in a statement to ESPN, cited by the NY Post. Buckley said courts across the country are granting relief to "ineligible athletes who already had every opportunity to compete in college sports," sometimes without even holding a hearing, and that these rulings are having "a destabilizing effect" on college sports.

The NCAA created this mess itself. NBC Sports made that point directly, arguing this chaos is "a direct byproduct of the collapse of the NCAA's prior system of refusing to let players get paid anything, by anyone," and that the new five-years-in-five-seasons eligibility rule created a gap for the 2022 class that players are now suing over. NBC Sports also cautioned against blaming Wright personally, framing him as someone navigating a system the NCAA itself destabilized with its own rule change.

What's At Stake For Wright

Wright caught 39 passes for 635 yards and five touchdowns for Ole Miss last season, helping the Rebels reach the College Football Playoff semifinal, according to Deadspin. Across four seasons at Ole Miss and Virginia Tech, he totaled 113 catches, 1,603 yards and nine touchdowns.

He's set to potentially play in a Browns preseason game this Saturday, per NBC Sports, even as he holds a separate legal path back to college. One of his Ole Miss teammates, defensive lineman Zxavian Harris, also entered the portal Thursday, according to Deadspin.

Wright still has to get cut or choose to leave before he can actually suit up for a college team again. With the case's next court date set for August 31, right before rosters get finalized league-wide, the NCAA's appeal of the underlying Colorado ruling could still upend the whole arrangement before a single down gets played.