In the past few days two high profile college players, LSU’s Leonard Fournette and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, announced they would be skipping their teams’ bowl games in order to “prepare for the NFL draft”. Now we all know that this actually means, “I’m sitting out the game because I don’t want to risk injury that would negatively affect my draft stock.” The two star running backs have received their fair share of criticism for this. They have been labeled selfish, disloyal, and even scared. Most of these jabs come from people within the sport they play. Former players specifically.
those people are completely missing the point.
These two young men have poured three years of their lives into their college programs. They have set records. Been Heisman finalists. And led their teams to a combined 53 wins in their careers. These achievements don’t even touch on the innumerable financial impact star football players like these guys have on a university as a whole. The money big time football brings in can support an entire athletic department at many places, not to mention lining the pockets of coaches an administators.
The average professional football player has about a 4 year window to turn his skills into a financial gain. Players are not allowed to enter the NFL until they have been out of high school at least 3 years. So they are forced to go and play for free in college. And typically players are out of the league in less than 5 years. So these college superstars have already been forced to delay their professional careers at least 3 years while playing for their universities, and now they are expected to run the risk of injury one more time?
For what?
A Sun Bowl Championship?
You’ll find that just before Life Championship in the hsitory books.
Bowl Games are 100% a money grab by the NCAA and its member organizations. Outside of the playoff games and the National Championship, what are the other 38 games actually being played for? The coaches get a bowl game bonus (yes, even Butch Jones got one). The university gets a nice slice of TV money. The NCAA gets all that gate revenue. But what about the players? They get a sorry gift bag, an all expense paid trip to Mobile, Alabama (I’ve been. Stay home. Trust me.), and another opportunity to have a catastrophic injury and wreck their earning potential.
Not convinced? Look no further than Notre Dame star Linebacker Jaylon Smith last season. Smith went into Bowl season widely regarded as a top 5 pick in the upcoming draft. That was before he suffered a devastating knee injury, sending him to the operating table, and rendering him unavailable for Norte Dame’s pro day and the NFL combine. The top 5 picks in the 2016 draft signed for an average total value of nearly $26 million. Jaylon Smith dropped out of the first round and signed for roughly $4.5 million. Playing in his bowl game cost him over $20 million.
So good for you Christian McCaffery and Leonard Fournette. You both had fantastic college careers and made your universities proud. Now cash in. Make your living while you can. And to the people who will bash them for being “selfish”, ask yourself this: If you had an opportunity to make life changing money for not only you, but your children and grand children as well, and all you had to do was stay healthy until April, would you play in a meaningless football game in December?
