A last-minute compromise between lawmakers could allow a football standout at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to defer his service and head to the National Football League next year.
Final language for the massive government funding bill known as the omnibus, released early Tuesday, contains amended language that would allow service academy athletes to get a waiver to defer their active-duty service to play professional sports.
This means Andre Carter II, an Army linebacker and a senior at West Point pegged as a possible first-round pick in April’s NFL draft, could have his shot at joining the league after it appeared scuttled earlier this month.
The issue stemmed from language included in the annual defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would require two years of active-duty service before any such waiver could be granted.
“Service academy appointments are a zero sum game,” lawmakers wrote in the bill’s explanatory language. “Every appointment that goes to a graduate who does not complete his or her active-duty service obligation to pursue professional athletics could have been awarded to many other qualified young people who would have happily served their country.”
The House and Senate earlier this month passed the bill, which is awaiting signature from President Biden.
The NDAA provision effectively closed a loophole that allowed service academy athletes to defer their five years of service to join a professional league, a rule that had been in place over the past few years.
Carter had decided to join West Point and not to transfer to another school two years ago with the understanding he would have a chance at the NFL, his family and Army coach Jeff Monken told ESPN last week.
“It’s not fair to him. He was loyal to this team and institution. He could have left and he didn’t,” Monken said. “It’s not that he doesn’t want to serve. He wants to pursue the NFL and play, and then serve.”
In the omnibus, however, language stipulates that the new NDAA policy “shall only apply with respect to a cadet or midshipman who first enrolls in the United States Military Academy, the United States Naval Academy, or the United States Air Force Academy on or after June 1, 2021.”
The provision would allow Carter and others who enrolled ahead of that date to be eligible to defer their service and play professionally.
The change came after Carter’s situation evoked a public outcry, with lawmakers and Army officials working behind the scenes to carve out some kind of exception to the new rule, Military Times reported.
The omnibus is awaiting a vote from both the House and Senate, and must be signed by Biden before the waiver rule can become law.