Weeks after Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison sent shockwaves through college football by entering his name into the transfer portal, Lane Kiffin raised a valid point.

Well, sort of valid.

“Why did Bryce Young not go into the portal?” Kiffin said to SI’s Ross Dellenger. “If you are advising Bryce Young, why do you not go into the portal and walk into Nick Saban’s office and say, ‘Hey, I want to be here, but I’ve got to protect myself, so I’m going to go into the portal. And I want to come back as long as it’s matched with what I get out there.’ The kid would make 10 times what he would have made. How’s that not going to happen all the time? It should. It will.”

The combination of the NIL era with the 1-time exemption for undergraduate transfers led to this being a legitimate topic for discussion. We can only imagine how much NIL compensation Kiffin and others would’ve offered Young. As many have pointed out, NIL value is highest for recruits and transfers. Call it NIL, call it pay-for-play, call it whatever. There’s a reason someone with options would make more money than someone without options like Kenny Pickett, who was in his final year of eligibility this past season at Pitt.

Yep. That’s exactly right.

So is Kiffin also right? Was it foolish for Young to have not entered the portal to try to get more money?

On the surface, sure. We know the Tide would’ve backed up the NIL Brinks truck to keep the Heisman Trophy winner in Tuscaloosa. There’s a world in which Saban could’ve turned to Alabama’s collective (High Tide Traditions), who could’ve quickly put a multi-million dollar package together before Young ever officially entered the transfer portal.

In theory, that makes sense. What’s the issue then?

For a non-quarterback like Addison, there might not be any issue with that. I’d argue that his move should prompt everyone to be extremely diligent about having their NIL ducks in a row for current players, not just recruits or transfer portal targets. That’s the world that we’re living in, and for undergraduate stars like Addison who will be entering their pre-draft season, that’s a legitimate question. Of course, specific to his situation, he was set to have new surroundings in 2022 without the aforementioned Pickett and offensive coordinator Mark Whipple.

For a quarterback like Young, though, I’d worry about a few things.

How does it work in recruiting when you sign a quarterback? There’s a chain reaction. If someone like Young hit the portal, he could have several offensive weapons follow suit and perhaps even leave. Even if Young had no intentions of leaving, he could sabotage himself by opening the potential floodgates for his teammates to enter the portal and hear what’s out there.

There’s a continuity/leadership impact to a quarterback threatening to transfer strictly for compensation. There are NFL examples of that strategy creating a mess. Last year alone, uncertainty surrounding the future of Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson created an offseason mess that led to a headache for both franchises. The difference was that they didn’t have a bunch of offensive skill players who could transfer without penalty.

To be fair, Alabama did sign a bunch of undergraduate transfer skill players like Jahmyr Gibbs, Tyler Harrell and Jermaine Burton, all of whom are using their 1-time exemption and theoretically would have had to sit a season if they transferred again.

But just in general, let’s also think about the dice roll it would be for a quarterback like Young pulling a move like that and actually transferring compared to a non-quarterback like Addison. A quarterback in his pre-NFL Draft season electing for a new coordinator, a new offense (potentially) and a new group of targets without even having the benefit of spring ball? Go find me a post-spring enrollee who had a banner year playing quarterback. Even Joe Burrow was a much different version of himself as a summer enrollee in 2018 compared to when he had a full offseason in 2019.

That’s why it’s incredibly risky to test those waters, especially for someone who will get picked apart by anyone and everyone. That target would be that much greater if he actually transferred for a better NIL compensation package.

(That’s probably an underrated part of this. Like, could you imagine Young entering the portal, but then coming back to Alabama and doing a bunch of NIL deals in the community? Wouldn’t those Alabama bridges be burned? Or at least a bit weathered? Well, I guess Young would only be doing national deals. OK, not awkward. Never mind.)

Remember, the difference between being No. 1 overall and No. 10 overall in the NFL Draft is $17 million. As crazy as Young’s open market value would’ve been, are we sure that’s worth the financial risk to change all of those variables and perhaps jeopardize his future earnings?

It’d be entirely different for Young if he were in a situation like Addison where those variables were already changing. Instead, though, Young is going to be on 1 of 19 FBS teams that have their starting quarterback, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and head coach all back (H/T Josh Pate). Young will play for the preseason No. 1 team that also has a defense led by Will Anderson and Dallas Turner, which should help produce no shortage of short fields. And oh, the greatest coach in the sport’s history is also on his side.

If this sounds thorough, it’s because it is. If you’re Young, you have to think about all of those elements if you’re actually willing to enter the portal and hear what’s out there. You have to consider what leverage is and if it’s worth it to use it at a place like Alabama, AKA where you earned a million bucks in NIL money before you started your first game.

Sure, Kiffin didn’t actually suggest that Young should leave Tuscaloosa. Holding out for more NIL earnings is different. There’s no way of knowing definitively that something like that didn’t happen behind closed doors with Young or other quarterbacks.

But there’s still cause and effect. High-profile quarterbacks would still be subject to that if and when that happens.

Alabama fans can rest easy knowing that Young’s name stayed out of the portal, unlike Pitt fans, who will be haunted by Kiffin’s scenario playing out with Addison.