How much to keep Bryce Young for 2023 Alabama football season?

Alabama football fans don’t want to lose Bryce Young after three more games. Many Alabama fans are asking how much it would cost to convince Bryce to play for the Crimson Tide in 2023.

The first thought following the question is simple – there is no way. A healthy Bryce Young will get north of $20M in guaranteed money via the 2023 NFL Draft. No college football player with anywhere near such an NFL payoff will delay going to the NFL.

But (there’s always a but) we do not live in normal times. As in, extraordinary money is now available to elite college football players. Through NIL deals and increased insurance policy value, it is theoretically possible Bryce Young could make a sound business decision and return to Tuscaloosa for one more season.

Let’s not start celebrating yet. There are many reasons Bryce should not hesitate to move to the NFL. A big one is how the ‘loss of value’ insurance policies work. A policy payable upon loss of value as an NFL player, resulting from a football injury in college, is complicated. The policies are massively expensive and like other insurance, they include limitations and exclusions.

Making the policies even less attractive is they often provide 60% or less of the pre-determined value of a college player’s first NFL contract. A more detailed explanation of the policies is provided by the NCAA.

Another substantive breakdown of the policies, published last August, stated,

"only about half-a-dozen prospects secured such coverage before the 2021 NFL draft"

If the insurance option is not an adequate income replacement, the cost of NIL deals for Bryce in 2023 would be many millions of dollars. How much Bryce could earn through NIL in 2023 is not known. It is believed some programs have estimated annual NIL funds needed for an entire roster to be from $10M to $15M. Further speculation of what it would take for Alabama Football to have Bryce for one more season is of no value – except …

Alabama football fans want to know how much …

Let’s just throw out a wild $10M dollar number, plus whatever can be gained in loss of value insurance. Is Bryce Young worth such a package? In the video below, while describing Bryce early this season, Nick Saban may have provided an answer.

Hmmm, maybe it is time for thousands of Alabama football fans to write some checks to whatever group can make Bryce an offer. That is if he has any interest. If not, we’ll cheer for him on whatever NFL team drafts him.