College football’s latest courtroom fight has hit NFL locker rooms. Just days before the 2026 season kicks off, a Dallas judge issued an order giving senior players an extra year of college eligibility. Strikingly, three of the names on that court document are already earning paychecks in active NFL training camps.

According to 247Sports, Dallas Cowboys receiver Jordan Hudson, alongside Kansas City Chiefs rookie linebacker Wesley Bissainthe and receiver Omari Evans, joined a group of 41 players who sued the NCAA. Thanks to the ruling, all three are now legally free to enter the transfer portal and suit up for college teams this fall.

Hudson has deep roots in the Dallas area. He started his career at TCU back in 2022 before spending three strong years at SMU. Over those four seasons, he put up steady numbers, catching 144 passes for 1,787 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Right now, Hudson is working out in Dallas, fighting for his spot on the Cowboys’ roster. He even grabbed three catches during the team’s first two preseason games. But this court order hands him an unexpected fork in the road. He could stay in pro ball or walk right back onto a college field.

Over in Kansas City, Chiefs rookies Wesley Bissainthe and Omari Evans face the exact same weird choice. Bissainthe joined the Chiefs as an undrafted linebacker this spring after wrapping up a strong four-year run at Miami, where he earned All-ACC honors in 2025.

Omari Evans spent three seasons at Penn State before transferring to Washington for his 2025 senior season. Kansas City signed him after the draft to a three-year, $3.105 million rookie contract. Normally, signing a pro contract kills your college eligibility forever. But the judge’s decision temporarily wiped that rule off the board.

The filing landed in Dallas because attorney Ryan Downton, who is waging similar eligibility battles in states like Louisiana and Kentucky, used local player Jordan Hudson to establish venue in Dallas County. Legally, the fight is not over endorsement deals but raw eligibility.

The players argue that the NCAA created an unfair double standard by offering five years of play to future classes while cutting out the 2022 group just to save roster spots for incoming freshmen. When Downton showed the court that SEC penalty threats were scaring schools off entirely, Judge Hoffman issued the temporary order within hours to protect the players’ immediate right to play.

“As long as they would have been eligible to continue playing college sports in the following semester if they had a fifth year of eligibility, they are eligible today,” he wrote. 

The rule change came in June, but it didn’t help everyone. The 2022 group got caught by the timing. They had already gone through college under the four-season rule, and the D1 board wasn’t willing to give them a fifth year. The board’s concern was roster space, with returning seniors potentially pushing freshmen out. More than 100 athletes have challenged that decision in court. Now, the fight is getting even bigger.

SEC gets a court invitation after turning up the heat on schools

The SEC and the other power conferences have responded by trying to punish a school that signs a former pro. The conference’s 16 members unanimously approved a policy barring schools from carrying athletes who previously declared for the NFL, NBA, or WNBA draft without withdrawing properly, signing professional contracts, or appearing on professional rosters.

A school could face a fine worth 50% of its sport’s annual budget, lose league voting rights, and see its coach suspended for half a season. Greg Sankey was also given authority to impose additional sanctions. The presidents and chancellors voted 15-0 to approve penalties, with LSU abstaining.

That is precisely how the SEC got dragged straight into this Texas courtroom fight. Judge Hoffman’s order did not just target the NCAA; it explicitly named the SEC and Commissioner Greg Sankey as co-defendants, stripping their power to punish schools or block players from returning.

But as Dan Murphy reported, the latest Dallas order prevents the NCAA, SEC, and commissioner Greg Sankey from blocking the players based on transfer-portal rules or the fact that they have spent time on professional rosters.

“A judge in Dallas signed a TRO today that would allow roughly two dozen outgoing senior to return to college sports,” he reported. “If the NCAA or SEC wants to try to block any of their returns, they would have to go to court and argue their case in front of the judge, acc’d to the order.”

Beyond these three NFL rookies, Downton’s push is one piece of a bigger pile-up: 150-plus athletes across 18 lawsuits in 15 states face the same Class of 2022 trap. The real fight is over who controls college sports. But TROs don’t travel: the 10th Circuit already stayed a sweeping Colorado ruling. It’s a patchwork, not a collapsed wall, with no single verdict settling things yet.

And that’s the heart of this mess. With college football’s full return now little more than a week away, three NFL players have a legal invitation sitting on the table. Whether they use it is one question. Whether the NCAA and conferences can keep them from doing so, it is becoming a much bigger issue.