Well, technically, they get 5 years to play 4 seasons. I think if you gave them 5 in 5 then it's blocking the pipeline?
I may not be thinking about this right, but isn't It only blocking the pipeline now because they only gave the extra year to those that were already in college and nobody else.
My thought about 5 was two-fold, 1 having the option of an almost automatic red-shirt for freshman without worrying about if you practiced with the team or played one inning and lose a full year or 2. about giving all players a chance to play 1 year as a grad student, the opportunity to take one last year of potentially playing D1 or move up levels of D1 for one shot. Or for those close to draft-able, that one last Post Grad year.... But this also allows a student to finish their degree at one school and not have to transfer to play at a higher level.
This just popped into my head because of all the DIII players in the NE that now are having an opportunity to play D1 as a grad student because they had that 5th year, but that opportunity won't exists for anyone else who wasn't affected by covid.