With the NFL Draft coming up next week, players often look for ways to maximize their draft stock and minimize their risks.
Athlete insurance is one way for collegiate football players to do that.
There are two types of insurance athletes can get. One is the Exceptional Student-Athlete Disability Insurance provided by the NCAA, and the other is called drop-in-value insurance.
In May of 2016, it was revealed that LSU’s star running back Leonard Fournette had two insurance policies worth $20 million. Fournette would have been able to cash in if he suffered a career-threatening injury or if he fell in the draft due to a particular reason.
Even though Fournette suffered an ankle injury in his junior season and only played in seven games last season, his draft stock has been unaffected.
Bryan Fisher, a Baton Rouge based lawyer, represents NCAA Athletes in insurance claims and is one of few people who represent and help athletes with insurance claims.
Fisher said he handles more cases than any lawyer. These insurance claims have actually been around for some time, he said.
“They haven’t been authorized by NCAA for a long time or recognized for a long time,” Fisher said about the policies. “Even though they existed and insurance was available, no athletes knew about them. Even if they found out about them in some fortunate way, there was no means by which they could pay for them.”
Every bowl season Fisher visits schools across the country to inform them about the insurance policies and what he does.
These programs did not offer many affordable options for college athletes to finance these policies, even though they have been around for about 10 to 12 years, Fisher said.
Luckily for Fournette, he avoided what happened to former Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith, who was a projected top-five pick in 2016 NFL Draft, but suffered a devastating knee injury in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl and fell into the second round.
Former UCLA football standout Myles Jack and Oregon cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, also suffered devastating injuries.
Fournette most likely would have been able to collect money, but the stipulations of the athlete’s policies are very intricate and complex.
“The more specific the better,” Andy Barker, who is in charge of financing athlete insurance, said in an interview with The Daily Reveille. “On the flip side of that, the more specific you are, the insurance companies will say ‘No, we only cover this right here.’”
“There is always going to be little caveats that you got to make sure, that if you are going to get this type of policy that all those bases are covered on what you think it is going to cover.”
Smith, an early second round pick, was able to collect money because his first contract was less than the parameters set up in the policy. Like Smith, Ekpre-Olomu was able to cash in his policy.
Jack, on the other hand, could not collect because he was drafted ahead of pick No. 45, which was the benchmark for his policy.
However, the cases of Smith and Ekpre-Olomu are rare.
The reason is that the companies do not want to pay out big time money, especially when insurance is not through the NCAA sponsored carriers.
The NCAA is especially rigid when it comes to the provided athlete-disability insurance. To qualify, a college football player must be projected as top three round pick, which accounts for less than one percent of players.
LSU players who are most likely to qualify for this in 2017 are players such as running back Derrius Guice, defensive end Arden Key, and offensive lineman Will Clapp.
When questioned on the NCAA’s standard, Barker said players sometimes go to outside insurance companies and the companies will determine the value of the policy.
“Most of the time, the players going for that still want to play football,” Barker said. “They want to make sure that if they suffer a catastrophic injury, [they are covered].”
“I think it is a good thing, but you’ve just got to make sure that you are not relying on insurance policies to bail you out of a non-catastrophic injury.”

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Augustus Stark

Former LSU running back Leonard Fournette participates in drills during the LSU football pro day on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at the Charles McClendon LSU football practice facility.