The NFL is obviously dependent on the collegiate talent pipeline as its universal lifeblood, but over the years, it has become increasingly dependent on college football as a source of intellectual property as well.
Practice limitations at the professional level hamper the amount of time coaches have to spend with their draft picks, which leads them to wisely investigate what the players did well in college and adopt elements of said playbooks into the scheme in order to increase comfortability and expedite the learning process. From there, whatever is successful from that adoption gets adopted elsewhere and the warm, sous-vide bath of ideas continues to percolate on a low heat season after season.