Disclaimer, I'm not arguing with you, just playing devil's advocate. Definitely not ready to say loading a roster with the portal is the way of the future. I'm just stating that it's too early to tell how this thing ends up going. Some counterpoints to what you wrote...
More and more players seem to be looking for a payday. And why shouldn't they? It's set up right now so they can, so why not test the open market? What's to make us think that trend of more and more talent doing this isn't going to continue? it's been heading that way at what I'd call an alarming rate as it is and especially now that it's limitless.
Again, if things keep trending the way they are, keeping a talented player from getting his max value on the open market may not be a reality. Lot easier to keep guys for 3-4 years who don't have much value in the open market than the talented ones who might be able to name their price other places. Easy answer is to pay them to stay, but there's only so much of that to go around.
Me too, but there may come a point when that's not a reality. Or at least for any of the real talent.
Bad comparison because A) NFL players have contracts and college players don't. If NFL players didn't have contracts and teams didn't have caps (like college), I guarantee you there would be major roster shuffling every year. The draft would be a sideshow because there's no way teams wouldn't be putting far more emphasis on proven talent than for unproven rookies. It already is that way even with contracts. There's a reason the veterans get paid way more than players on their roookie contracts. B) NFL players sign one year deals all the time.