Keep in mind this is just a district court opinion.

A district court once invalidated the NFL's three-years-from-high-school rule that Maurice Clarett challenged as a violation of antitrust law. The judge Shira A. Scheindlin was a pretty activist judge, and the Second Circuit unanimously reversed her, finding the rule fell within the common law labor exemption to antitrust laws.

I haven't read the opinion, but a look at the judge's bio shows he had a nontraditional path to his appointment. He was in private practice only one year before opening a solo practice for two decades before being appointed a magistrate judge for just a couple years before being appointed to his judgeship after narrowly escaping committee. Traditionally, the number of no votes would be interesting, though these days that may just have become standard practice. But first impression would be not to assume the opinion stands.

Interestingly, if players are ever recognized by a court as employees, that will potentially give the NCAA greater leverage to enforce restrictions on compensation under a labor exemption for joint action by employers that the NFL enjoys sometimes even without the issue being directly collectively bargained if it is ancillary to the bargaining process.