FanHouse JermichaelFinley

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

On its surface, the 2008 season appears to have been an unmitigated disaster for the Green Bay Packers. After the Packers made the NFC Championship Game the season before, fans painfully watched the Brett Favre retirement/unretirement/stick-it-to-Ted saga play out, and then got to see new starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers play well before the team fell apart around him.

Perhaps the most painful sort of NFL departure is the "but he's a sophomore!" sort where a kid in only his second year on the field bolts. Normally this is not an option, but if you redshirt a guy who then blows up it's a possibility. See: Michael Vick. Texas TE Jermichael Finley is the latest third-year sophomore to depart:

"The NFL is every football players dream and when my NFL grade came back, it was encouraging and I felt like it was in my best interest to enter the draft," Finley said in a statement. "I've worked really hard for three years at Texas to prepare for this and I think I'm ready for the challenge. Coach Chambers and all of the coaches have helped me improve and taught me so much that I can't thank them enough.

I wonder what that grade was. Whatever it is, it was probably not first-round. Finley had 45 catches for around 600 yards last year, decent but not unbelievable numbers. GBN does not have him in their top 135 draft prospects.

Tailback Jamaal Charles announced his intention to depart a couple weeks ago; remarkably, before that the only player to leave early under Mack Brown at Texas was one Vince Young. Which, like, duh.

A look at the 2007 junior class as players decide whether to enter the 2008 NFL draft.

Texas tight end Jermichael Finley announced today that he's leaving school early to enter the draft.

Finley is a third-year sophomore with two more years of eligibility, but the announcement didn't come as a total surprise. Many people expected Finley to leave early because as a person, he's ready to make a living and support his wife and kids. But as a player, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Finley is a guy who could have improved his draft stock with another year on the college football field and in the Texas weight room.

Right now, Finley seems to be behind senior tight ends Fred Davis of USC and John Carlson of Notre Dame, as well as the other junior tight ends who have entered early, Martellus Bennett of Texas A&M and Cornelius Ingram of Florida. Finley is very unlikely to be a first-day pick.

Ultimately, this was more a family decision than a football decision. Finley has a wife and kids, and from that perspective, it makes sense that he wants to make a living. But from a football perspective, he would have been much better off getting another year of college under his belt.

See the full list of 2008 NFL draft early entries.