By Ryan Mayer, CBS Local Sports

In the wake of college football season ending last week following Alabama’s 45-40 win over Clemson in the National Championship Game, the focus for many college players has turned to the next big hurdle: the NFL Draft. As you know, the NFL has the strictest policy of the four major sports leagues for who can enter the draft and at what age. You must be three years removed from high school in order to be considered eligible.

Now, regardless of what you think of that rule, the league has, in recent years, further tried to discourage more underclassmen from declaring for the draft. As of last year, the NFL instituted an evaluation process that gave underclassmen a grade of either first round, second round or stay in school. This was implemented with the hope that players receiving anything outside of a first or second round grade would return to school to try and improve to either first or second round caliber.

Needless to say, that process hasn’t worked. Sure, as CBSSports.com’s Dennis Dodd pointed out on Monday, it stemmed the tide last year with only 74 underclassmen declaring as opposed to the 98 who declared in 2014. That number was still massively up from the beginning of the decade when just 53 underclassmen declared.

This year, the number has gone up to a record 103 as of today. Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wetzel raised two key factors as to why the number continues to rise in his column. The first problem the league faces is the rookie wage scale that was implemented in the 2011 CBA. From Wetzel:

“The challenge is that this is no longer as easy as just reworking or eliminating the salary scale and financially incentivizing it so players will return for one more year – and thus try to improve from projected fifth-rounder to third-rounder, or projected third-rounder to first-rounder, or projected late first-rounder to top 10 pick. Right now the money isn’t good enough to delay entry, which is why even players who may not get drafted (but are likely getting picked up and play as undrafted free agents) are turning pro. “The team that drafts you [in the first round] can keep you locked up for five years,” agent C.J. LaBoy of Relativity Sports told Yahoo Sports last year. “Then you’re 27 or 28 and you’re literally near the tail end of you career by the time you get to your second contract. If you get to a second contract.”

That need to get the clock ticking combined with what Wetzel describes as an awareness among players of just how dangerous in the short-term football can be, leads to a longing to make as much money as possible as soon as possible. Especially when, as Wetzel points out, players as young as Antwaan Randle El at age 36 are suffering memory loss. Or those like Calvin Johnson at age 30 who are considering retirement because of health concerns.

These issues aren’t going away. The young players are looking at their careers from a business perspective and know that they only have a limited amount of time to make money that often needs to last them the rest of their lives.

It’s tough in society to find sympathy for professional athletes. They make exorbitant sums of money that many in the general public can only dream of making. Due to that, when it comes to athletes asking for more cash, the reaction from the public is often ‘How spoiled can you be?’. However, when looking at young players, or football players in general, there’s one big thing to keep in mind: unlike the other three major sports leagues, their money is largely non-guaranteed.

In Wetzel’s column he proposes a solution to narrow the gap between the money available at the NFL level and the money available for players to earn at the college level (none).

“Meanwhile college football could adopt the so-called Olympic model that allows players to profit off their own likeness and fame. It would allow a star, say Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry of Alabama, to appear in commercials, paid autograph sessions or local appearances. It might close the gap between college stipend and pro salary and ease the realization of how those half-billion dollar revenue streams are made to at least make it more palpable to at least consider another year in school.”

However, I’ll propose a solution to work in conjunction with the names and likenesses idea from Wetzel’s column. Guarantee all the money in player contracts. Yes, I’m serious. Now, you may say, ‘But, wouldn’t that make more players want to come out and grab the cash when they can?’ Sure, it could. But, there is more of an incentive to improve your draft stock this way because I’m also tweaking the rookie contracts a bit.

With how the wage scale currently works, after the first round, every pick signs a four-year deal featuring varying amounts of guaranteed and non-guaranteed money. First round picks have an option attached to their contract allowing them to be picked up for a 5th year.

Instead of that current system, guarantee the 5th year for 1st round picks, there is no option. Guarantee the fourth year for second round picks. Then anything from the 3rd-7th round gets guaranteed three years at their wage slot. Undrafted free agent contracts would also be guaranteed money, but they can only be signed for two years.

This way, players would know that the contracts they sign are automatically guaranteed to them. They can’t be cut and receive nothing. If they are cut, then just like baseball that money still comes to them. Now, would some players jump at the chance to be even a 4th round pick to start the clock and try to get to that second contract? Sure. But, others would understand that playing one more year can guarantee them at least one more year of money if they move up to the second or even the first round.

Again, keep in mind that the average NFL career lasts about four years. So, some players drafted aren’t normally reaching the end of their original rookie deals.

Football players are part of arguably (I know some will say hockey and that’s fine) the most violent sport that we play. Yet, for the sacrifices they make with their bodies, they make significantly less guaranteed money than their counterparts in other leagues. ESPN Radio’s Bomani Jones summed it up perfectly recently when he said on his show The Right Time With Bomani Jones:

“If you have a line on that baseball money, you may want to consider it….Calvin Johnson according to Sportrac has made 113 million dollars in his career and could make another 67 million over the next four years, but most of that money isn’t guaranteed. Jeff Samardzjia just got 5 years $90 million to be just another dude in the major leagues.”

Calvin Johnson will go down as one of the best receivers in the history of the game, yet, he could be cut tomorrow and wouldn’t see a dime of what’s left on his contract. Samardzjia meanwhile, will get all of that $90 million even if he gets hurt tomorrow.

Football players, especially college players, take on much more risk than any of their contemporaries in hope of half the reward. Reward the players fully, and maybe, just maybe, you will get the mentality of young players to change. There isn’t a perfect solution, but combining guaranteed contracts for all players with allowing the college players to benefit from the use of their name and likeness could start to change that thought process.

Ryan Mayer is an Associate Producer for CBS Local Sports. Ryan lives in NY but comes from Philly and life as a Philly sports fan has made him cynical. Anywhere sports are being discussed, that’s where you’ll find him.