Undrafted NFL Rookie Andrew Sweat Is Making A Mistake By Going To Law School [UPDATE]

This is Andrew Sweat. He was a linebacker for Ohio State, and he recently signed as an undrafted rookie free agent with the Cleveland Browns. "Andrew Sweat" is the perfect name for an undrafted linebacker on a Midwestern team who makes lots of frenzied tackles, but Sweat has decided to forgo the NFL for a "career" in law.

Elie Mystal at Above the Law explains:

Now, instead of attending camp and trying to make the team, Sweat has decided to give up on his NFL career and attend law school instead. Not even a very highly ranked law school. More like the Cleveland Browns of law schools. [Sweat got into law school at Pittsburgh, Duquesne, West Virginia, Florida and the University of Miami.]

I can't know if Sweat's decision is being partially motivated by all the media attention focused on the long-term health consequences of playing in the NFL. But I'd bet all the money in my pocket that Sweat has not been paying attention to the media coverage of the long-term professional and financial damage that can be done by going to law school…

It is, I suppose, a little easy to forget that NFL players make a lot of money. Yes, they subject their bodies and brains to untold ravages; yes, they're exploited by money-hungry owners; yes, they're largely deprived (unfairly) of the education and training needed to succeed after football—but they make a lot of money. Rookies make a minimum salary of $390,000. That's more than a first-year associate with a good setup makes, and Mystal, who knows whereof he speaks, says Sweat's unlikely to wind up with a good setup.

So, Sweat, listen up and learn that NFL players, as far as exploitation goes, have a nicer deal than graduates of second- and third-tier law schools, who leave with lots of debt and similarly scrambled brains. (For what it's worth, "ex-NFL player" might look good on a law school application, too. Jay Bilas got into Duke Law, and he never even made the NBA.) Choose the jocks.

Update (4:35 p.m.): Here's Sweat's word, from early this morning:

Update 2 (5 p.m.): Andrew Sweat has reached out to us on Twitter. Turns out he'll be OK. It's just the rest of you suckers who are screwed.

Potential NFL Rookie Is About To Make The Biggest Mistake Of His Life By Going To Law School [Above the Law]