Matt Rhule explains how his NFL experience can benefit Nebraska in new NIL rules

Matt Rhule had a fairly short-lived stint in the NFL, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t productive. Despite getting fired just a quarter of the way through his third season, he took a lot of lessons from his time in the league.

Those lessons are now benefiting Nebraska more than ever in the era of NIL and revenue sharing. Rhule explained how.

“I think the biggest thing you learn when you’re in the NFL is really evaluation,” Rhule told Greg McElroy on the Always College Football podcast. “Before in college football it was like, ‘Yeah, he’s a good player, let’s offer him, let’s take him.’ You get to the NFL, they’re all good players. It’s just, ‘Hey, what’s the financial value we put on this person and put on this position?’ Every year in the NFL you go through free agency and you see teams walking away from it with really good players because of their contract situations.”

Could that also prove to be true in college? It’s certainly possible.

The proliferation of the NCAA transfer portal — and the ease with which players can now transfer — has made for a much more fluid dynamic in the sport. Rosters can change quickly.

There’s often the perfect player waiting out there in the wings, assuming you have the space to add him. Managing budgets, particularly in the revenue share era, will be paramount.

“Now there’s differences. You can’t carry money over,” Rhule said, contrasting the new college setup with the NFL. “The smart teams in the NFL carry money over and position themselves through the years. But that discipline, I think, is something that’s really, really unique. It’s hard because you get to know the players. You want to take care of everybody.”

Rhule also has another ace up his sleeve. In addition to his own experience managing an overall budget in the NFL, he has brought in some expert help as a general manager.

“I brought in Pat Stewart, who spent a long time with the Eagles, Panthers and also with the Patriots for most of his career,” Rhule said. “Having that set of eyes is really discipline. That’s going to be the key.

“College football has been dominated by who can aggregate all the good players. And hopefully a salary cap, if it holds, which I hope it does, hopefully that will allow for more parity and let the best teams win.”