Sitting Out Bowl Games: A Can of Worms Opened
Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports
Before any reader who is in favor of Christian McCaffrey & Leonard Fournette think this is bashing these two players for their decisions, let me say first I totally understand why they did it. I get it. It makes sense from a business perspective. Both players are going to be playing on Sundays next season and anything happens in college or pro football. We've seen it over & over.
That said, Christian McCaffrey & Leonard Fournette have opened a can of worms.
We can argue that the Bowl Season is about as relevant to spring practice games in April, and some can argue, even less than those. Yes, do I really need to watch Central Michigan vs. Tulsa in the Miami Beach Bowl? No (but I did for the most part). And even with the major bowl games of Florida State/Michigan and Auburn/Oklahoma, the luster might have gone away from the casual viewer. Why? The Playoff of course. It means a whole lot if you're a fan of Alabama, Washington, Ohio State, and Clemson. Because national title is the thing to play for. Yes, you get nice paydays if you go to the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Rose Bowl if you're those teams and the fans. But to the people who are in favor of McCaffrey & Fournette sitting out, it doesn't mean anything. But to the fan bases of these schools and the players who are not NFL bound, it does mean something.
Marcus Lattimore was highly regarded as an future NFL star running back until the gruesome knee injury at South Carolina did his career in (I refuse to put up the image of his injury on here).
THE MARCUS LATTIMORE SYNDROME: Ever since Marcus Lattimore's horrific knee injury at South Carolina in 2012, college stars with NFL dreams have been shy to really go "all-out" in college. Even Lattimore's teammate and star defensive end/linebacker Jadeveon Clowney the year after really took a step back and re-assessed his physical, aggressive style of play the year after where he somewhat had a soft approach at practice, not wanting to get too physical during camp. When the first few weeks of the 2013 season happened, Clowney looked out of breath and the littlest ailments that some players would go through and continue playing, Clowney sat out in a few games, thus creating controversy. While he had some good games in 2013, overall his play by many was considered a disappointment and many believed he took plays off to save his NFL value. Clowney still ended up getting drafted #1 before the 2014 season started by Houston. But the nagging injuries continued his rookie year and even his second year and while he has contributed to Houston's top-notch defense, he hasn't played like the #1 pick to this point in his career. And given how Fournette and McCaffrey both have sat out games with injuries, and while both had legit injuries, some have wondered if they could play through those injuries and such. And who knows, at least in Fournette's case, it might have affected him as he was very human-like in most of the games this year against physical teams like Wisconsin and Alabama. But ever since Lattimore, I think players like Fournette & McCaffrey have had those thoughts in the backs of their heads. Again, understandable, but at the same token it hasn't really panned out for Clowney and to a lesser extent Forunette in their final season in college, as well as Clowney's NFL career to this point.
Saban believed Alabama players who were going to the NFL were more worried about projections than the Sugar Bowl game itself.
WAS NICK SABAN RIGHT ABOUT THIS AFTER ALL? Saban after Alabama lost to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl stated that some of his players started to hear rumblings of how they would be a 1st round NFL pick 4 months later and possibly didn't go all-out in that game. Of course, many bashed Saban for his statements saying he was using it as a cop-out of why Alabama lost to Ohio State (my guess was that Kirby Smart had some of the worst defensive schemes known to man that game, but anyhow.............), but after seeing what has happened with Fournette & McCaffrey, it does make me think about this. And are we going to get to the point of a player, let's say a Deshaun Watson kind of guy where he got his team into the playoff and realizes that he is the #1 overall pick in the draft and he could actually re-think about playing the game? I know I am probably over-exaggerating, but if the stakes are so high for a guy would they actually consider sitting out the playoff?
Fournette was either in street clothes or nowhere to be found on the sideline for 5 games in 2016
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
WRONG MESSAGE SENT? Teammates' support for Fournette & McCaffrey has been pretty solid given the tweets they've made. But I honestly doubt that all of LSU or Stanford's players are in full support of it. They might understand the idea and see the work, but we've seen how star players get that treatment sometimes and probably are like "what good of a teammate are you for doing this?" Again, I am not saying these aren't team guys, but they fought the wars with you and in their case for you. Is it too much to ask to show up, even for a half? I'd be intrigued if both of them showed up at the bowl games for support. It might show whether they were really for the team or just about themselves. And you do wonder if NFL execs look at it and go "he's a guy that will back up others" or "he's a guy that is only for himself." If anything the sit-outs might hurt their stock (though it didn't for Clowney).
Fournette's big games on the main stage in his career (against Alabama) has not panned out well at all
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
SHOWCASE BLOWN: What we've seen with Clowney, Fournette, and McCaffrey in their final seasons has been something of a mess. Fournette had over 800 yards rushing in 7 games. Impressive, though you do have to look at the teams he played in the process (Ole Miss and Mississippi State) while facing against Alabama he was unable to do anything. And granted, he rushed for 138 vs. Wisconsin, but it never felt like Fournette got it going at all and took over. And yes, he was dinged up against Florida but only rushed 12 times for 40 yards, a sign of showing he might have difficulty at the next level against physical NFL defenses. As for McCaffrey, similar story: while he ran a great deal, the three teams that played physical up front out in the PAC-12 were Washington, Colorado, and Utah..........and all 3 held him to under 100 yards. And all losses. Granted neither squad is playing a strong physical defense in the Bowl games, but still a time to show what you got against the rest of the nation. And sometimes that is definitely needed.
All the nagging injuries either took a toll on McCaffrey or just played safe.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
A TREND? We're going to see the likes of others do the same thing if they know they are a first round pick in the NFL draft. And it will be intriguing to see somebody like Lamar Jackson next year and see how he handles himself. Will he be less aggressive, knowing if he gets dinged up at Louisville he might end up being like Robert Griffin? Or will he continue doing the same stuff? My guess is he knows there is a future on the next level, which many will wonder if Jackson will ease off the gas in 2017 and we could see a similar thing happen this time next year.
Maybe I have overblown the idea that a player would sit out even on a playoff game for his chances on the next level. However, with how the businesses work in sports media and the NFL, it is hard for these young players NOT to think about it and not to wonder if he needs to think about his future. That said, this is possibly starting the equivalent of college basketball players being one-and-done players and devalue the college football system like it did for college basketball. We heard rumors of people close to Fournette wish he took a year off to train for the draft and not even take a snap for LSU. And one day we might actually get to that as I wouldn't be surprised if a player within 5 years does that.
With Fournette & McCaffrey, you can't blame either one really, but it allows the players to just go "peace!" when that final game against their top rival or the conference championship ends and it could start a new wrinkle for college football that they DON'T need right now. And the sad part is, there is no viable solution for it to stop, one way or the other.
-Fan in the Obstructed Seat
