Lane Kiffin wants Browns star to quit and join LSU as Todd Monken opens up on ‘crazy’ situation

Lane Kiffin’s reach extends far beyond the transfer portal as he tries to sign a player off the Cleveland Browns.

Tight end Dae’Quan Wright is one of the former college stars involved in a landmark legal ruling to grant them a fifth year of eligibility.

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The NCAA could still successfully appeal the decision, but as it stands, Wright is in line to snub his NFL contract and return to college during preseason.

“I think it’s likely to happen, as his agent, because we don’t currently project him to make the Browns,” Wright’s agent Drew Rosenhaus told the Pat McAfee Show. “He’s really low on the depth chart.

“I would expect him to be cut on or before Aug. 30. Then he could go back into the draft next year when he’s healthier.

“This is crazy. This could be the first player to play in the NFL with an NFL team through the Combine and training camp and go play collegiately.”

Monken agrees with the ‘crazy’ part.

“Man, isn’t this s*** crazy?” he said after a preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills. “I don’t even know what to say.

“As far as I know, he’s had a medical issue that wasn’t allowing him to practice. That’s a medical issue. It has nothing to do with me.

“He was cleared, so we dressed him just in case we had to have him.”

Wright, who signed with the Philadelphia Eagles before being cut and joining the Browns, is in the portal with a decision to make.

Kiffin is interested having already worked with him in his spell with Ole Miss.

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“I don’t know what to say. I wondered why Lane Kiffin reached out to me a week ago, now I know,” Monken added. “I didn’t call him back; I guess I should have.”

NFL players can return to college

Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court granted a temporary restraining order on Wednesday.

It paved the way for 30 former college athletes, including 16 football players, to return “so long as they terminate any such contract and repay any money they have received prior to playing in a collegiate game.”

“We are asking all courts to put the players back where they would have been if the NCAA had made the rule change earlier,” the athletes’ attorney Ryan Downton, said.

“So, had these guys known they were going to be eligible this year, they would not have signed with agents, signed non-guaranteed deals or participated in training camp.

“In our view, as long as they can get a release from their contracts and give any money back, they should be permitted to play.”

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The NCAA is desperate to fight the continued erosion of its rules.

“Courts across the country granting relief to ineligible athletes who already had every opportunity to compete in college — sometimes without even having a hearing — are failing to appreciate the destabilizing effect their rulings are having on college sports,” said its senior vice president of external affairs Tim Buckley.

“The lawyers bringing these cases seemingly won’t be satisfied until every professional athlete can treat college sports as a fallback option, regardless of the opportunities it strips from those who will never have a chance to begin their collegiate sports experience.”