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Christian McCaffrey (RB Stanford)

No and I don't have a problem with what McCaffrey is doing because he finished the regular season out, played all other bowl games every other year and now has one meaningless game left between him and a nice paycheck. It isn't my place to bash him over this decision that he has made. His decision wasn't to hit a woman or do drugs or rob a liquor store. It is a decision with his future in mind...the opposite of most decisions that players make that I would possibly bash them for. I remember when Jadaveon Clowney contemplated sitting out his entire junior season to avoid the risk of injury. I don't know what the BP take on that was but I know that nationally, it was met more with intrigue than it was with people bashing him for it. I could be wrong.

As far as the comparison to Coach Coombs. I don't necessarily see a valid comparison. McCaffrey is risking injury and could see a drastic decrease in his first NFL contract by getting hurt. Coombs wouldn't be risking as much by choosing to finish out the season coaching for Ohio State. That isn't to say that there isn't still risk on Coombs' part. The longer he waits to join his new team, the less time he spends recruiting for his new team before the signing period, which in the long run, could impact his teams record a couple years down the line if he misses out on some key players. I would still have no problem if Coombs accepted a job and wanted to get started right away.
well, that is kind of my point. there would be less risk on coombs' part. mccaffrey, on the other hand, assumes an unknown risk that could affect quite severely and negatively him for the rest of his life. this kind of decision comes down to risk analysis. unlike a coach deciding to depart early, the player assumes the risk of never making money at his expected profession that he's prepared for. for the coach? he does not carry the risk of never being employed again in his profession.

sure, the comparison is not perfect. i get that. however, it seems that coaches often get a pass (which is reasonable) for departing early, especially when it's prior to a lackluster bowl game. i'm just attempting to draw a parallel here. if, say, on the other hand, coombs were the defensive coordinator and decided to leave prior to a playoff game, then i would understand the justification for calling him out. the ultimate goal of college players in college is to win a national title. a major player or a key coach departing early would be impacting the dreams of the whole team and staff. but winning the sun bowl? what college player dreams about that?

anyway, i think many are still missing the bigger point here. fournette and mccaffrey are running backs. they're running backs would not be playing in the playoff. they're running backs who have faced injuries and missed games this season. running backs, you know, tend to get injured rather easily. if they were instead receivers, i doubt they'd be skipping their bowl games. as such, i think it's a bit of a slippery slope to think that we're going to see a bunch of players now skipping bowl games.

what i instead think is that we'll see more players who have faced injuries skipping non-playoff bowl games prior to drafts where they're expected to go in the first couple rounds.
 
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and i'd compare an assistant getting a head coaching job to a college player getting drafted in the first couple rounds, which both fournette and mccaffrey will be.

Agreed. I don't have much of an issue with a coach who accepts a job with a new school, beginning to work for said school. That is kind of like McCaffrey and Fournette. These guys are pledging their loyalty to their new employers, even if they don't know who they are yet. Their new employers are about to cut them a nice check. That is, unless, they end up breaking their leg on the way to the corner store before picking the check up. Maybe just skip the corner store and go get rich. There's no reason to go to the corner store right now.
 
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@OSU_Buckguy Why not compare it to a kid like me, who had good enough grades going into his final that he didn't need to score a single point on it in order to graduate? One's willingness to complete what one started matters, and I hope it comes back to cost these guys draft positions. The actual occurrence of a career ending injury is slight, as decades of evidence shows. I do agree with Cinci that insurance should be made available, and so far as I know - IT IS, especially for a guy like McCaffrey who comes from a family which can afford it. These guys, especially the 100% healthy McCaffrey are fucking quitters. Horrible teammates. Period.
 
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@OSU_Buckguy Why not compare it to a kid like me, who had good enough grades going into his final that he didn't need to score a single point on it in order to graduate? One's willingness to complete what one started matters, and I hope it comes back to cost these guys draft positions. The actual occurrence of a career ending injury is slight, as decades of evidence shows. I do agree with Cinci that insurance should be made available, and so far as I know - IT IS, especially for a guy like McCaffrey who comes from a family which can afford it. These guys, especially the 100% healthy McCaffrey are fucking quitters. Horrible teammates. Period.
Is there a possibility that answering the questions on your final is going to prevent you from ever becoming a lawyer?
 
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Is there a possibility that answering the questions on your final is going to prevent you from ever becoming a lawyer?
No.

It's not a perfect analogy by any stretch (much like a coach moving on was not either). Fact is, Football is a TEAM sport. One's commitment to his TEAM matters. I hope it costs these guys draft positions because it, in my IMO, speaks to their level of commitment to the TEAM
 
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Take 2013 Alabama. What if T.J. Yeldon and Amari Cooper decided to say, "You know what? Fuck it! We just lost to Auburn -- we're not playing against Oklahoma in a meaningless bowl."

Doesn't that affect A.J. McCarron's draft stock? If C.J. Mosley and Clinton-Dix wind up playing 85 snaps in the bowl game instead of 65 because their own offense has been neutered, does that not put them at increased injury risk?

You quit on your team, then fuck you right in the pussy. Especially a hard sell when you're Christian McCaffrey and were born on third base financially speaking.
 
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Who said it?

"All these young guys deciding to skip their bowl games
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.I would do anything to play one more time with my brothers in that scarlet and gray"
 
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No.

It's not a perfect analogy by any stretch (much like a coach moving on was not either). Fact is, Football is a TEAM sport. One's commitment to his TEAM matters. I hope it costs these guys draft positions because it, in my IMO, speaks to their level of commitment to the TEAM

Of course, football is a team sport. I'm glad you mentioned this because it takes a team to win in football, not one man. Football is a violent game and injuries happen all the time. You can't predict them or otherwise nobody would get hurt. If someone goes down, "next man up." No excuses. "Next man up" is all you hear. So if these guys want to make a finacial decision and not risk injury for one game that is meaningless, I'm cool with that. Next man up. McCaffrey went to Stanford so he must be a pretty smart guy and he can make that choice himself.

Most starters sit out the last preseason NFL game as well. That's because they don't want to risk injury and it gives coaches a chance to play the marginal players more and give those players a chance to show their ability and possibly make the team. That's how I'm going to look at this. McCaffrey and Fournette's backups are being given opportunities while McCaffrey and Fournette (who have nothing left to prove) are avoiding injury for the future that actually matters.

It's nice to say "I'm going out there and play with my brothers" and all that rah rah stuff until you get hurt and regret it for the rest of your life when you've lost millions of dollars. But hey, you got to play in one extra college game (instead of possibly many more games in the pros) so it was worth it? Jaylon Smith says he would do it again if he had the chance. That's nice but it's easy to say what people want to think is "the right thing" after you're already past that point and can't go back. He can say anything he wants to make himself look as great as he can. My guess, if he knew he would get injured and it would cost him $19M in guaranteed money, there's no fucking way he plays in that game just to show that he's some special guy. I really think it's that simple. If someone came to you and said "hey, you can play in this game with your buddies but it's going to cost you $19M," we all know that you'd be stupid to give up that money to play in one meaningless football game. McCaffrey doesn't get the luxury of knowing if he'll get hurt or not but he can make a pretty damn smart decision, whether other people like it or not.

I'm not going to knock your stance on this, or @Dryden's. If the player chooses to play in the game, fine by me. If he gets hurt, that doesn't make him an idiot. But choosing not to play in this one last game isn't something that I'm going to call a player out on either. He has played in every other game (even after being eliminated from national championship contention) and every other bowl game. It's only one game. He doesn't shut it down every season once it's lost.
 
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If enough players decide to skip their bowl games the inevitable result will be a playoff expanded to sixteen or even thirty-two teams. Lots of people will then find something to do besides watching college football on regular season fall Saturdays.
 
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What I left out of my previous long-winded post... :rofl:

It seems that one of the major arguments about him skipping the bowl game is how he looks to NFL GMs. There are two scenarios here (assuming injury in the bowl game since that is what this is about.)

1. He plays in the bowl game and gets injured and now NFL teams aren't going to risk their first round pick on him.

2. He skips the bowl game and now NFL GMs question his loyalty/commitment.

McCaffrey can skip the bowl and go to an NFL team interview, explain his thought process, make a good impression and put a team's mind at ease. Then that team will have no problem taking him in the first round.

McCaffrey can't go in to an NFL interview with a serious injury that could cost him his first NFL season and say "yeah, I'm injured, will need to rehab my first season, might not be the same player, but take me in the first round because I played in the Sun Bowl and I'm a great guy."

The lesser of the two evils here is definitely DON'T GET HURT.
 
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