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Ohio State cornerback skips bowl game to enter draft

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Jan 15, 2003
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If I was a NFL team, I’d take Jackson first in the draft. It really bothers me that someone would skip the game then release a twitter statement saying how he still wants to help the team.

Sorry, no link. Check the ESPN website.
 
I personally have nothing against a player skipping a non-playoff game to mitigate risk for injury. However, if I’m a NFL GM or coach, I sure as hell see something extra in a guy like Jackson who plays anyway (sorry guys, he gone).
 
I understand why he skipped the game. But my two points remain. I’d take Jackson first and his Twitter statement bothers me.
 
College players who've done the work to earn themselves a high draft pick have every right to skip a bowl game to protect their future earnings. A lot of these guys come from dirt poor backgrounds. Their NFL contract can change their family's future for generations.
What about all the coaches and players who put their time into it with him, do they not deserve to have him out there? He’s essentially getting paid to play and calling in sick.
 
It's a weird consideration. Can't say I blame an individual who's done enough to rate as an NFL prospect worthy of a great signing bonus. But it also sucks as a footnote to the bowl season. I know there are insurance policies for elite college athletes which pay out if a player sustains a career-ending injury, but I have no idea if that's realistically collectible or how the payout is drawn up compared to a signing bonus. You can't necessarily predict the long-term severity of an injury with modern medical science. If an Iowa or BC kid had shredded multiple knee ligaments playing on that atrocity of a field in Yankee Stadium, what in a contract ensures a player gets his claim paid if the insurance company says there are multiple proven surgeries to fix that and they'll need to wait for proof that the injury is career-ending before they'll pay? A year+ of rehab, an evaluation from NFL pros, a doctor's opinion? Or they rehab well but they're not the same player?

What makes it weird is that you're on a team and in a program for a minimum of 3 years before this is a consideration for you as a player. This makes it a weird bargain to strike if you didn't go to OSU (or Iowa or Michigan or Alabam or etc) to "play school" a la Cardale Jones (kudos to him for going back to finish his degree). But you did build that bond with teammates and coaches and, at the end of a season, you have an idea where you rate as a draft prospect. Most of your team is not seriously whiffing the NFL, but they are your team and they contributed in some way to your success. Are you letting them down even if they're supportive of your decision to skip a bowl?

I don't recall this being much of an issue prior to the CFP. I wonder what kind of holes this may poke into the idea that major college football is amateur athletics.
 
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It's a really tough spot that the players have been put in and I blame the system as much as the players/agents. At some point as earlier noted, when do you just not play at all and say I am saving my talents for the NFL!
 
If I was a NFL team, I’d take Jackson first in the draft. It really bothers me that someone would skip the game then release a twitter statement saying how he still wants to help the team.

Sorry, no link. Check the ESPN website.

The fact jewell, wadley and jackson played on the ice rink at yankee stadium says alot about character.
 
I really hate this trend of great players skipping bowl games and it bothers me as a fan. However, I've never had millions of dollars at stake and had to decide whether or not to risk it to play one more game. So I certainly won't criticize the player for making the choice that he thinks is best for him.
 
I personally have nothing against a player skipping a non-playoff game to mitigate risk for injury. However, if I’m a NFL GM or coach, I sure as hell see something extra in a guy like Jackson who plays anyway (sorry guys, he gone).

And Jackson played in field conditions that could exacerbate the extent of a possible injury. Shows TEAM PLAYER to me!

Taking a knee before the game even starts, usually gets NFL fans riled up!
 
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I honestly see both sides in this matter. But If I were an NFL GM, I would heavily consider the team first player over the me first player.
Absolutely... unless he injured a knee or something in the bowl game, then I would just pick him up late
 
Why not skip the last 2 games. 4 games? 6?

If I was an NFL GM I would most likely pass on a player who skips his last college game. Could he get hurt? Sure, and of course its his right. That's a risk you want a player to take for his teammates.
This!!!
I definitely would NOT let him travel. He essentially quit the team. He forfeited his scholly & bailed on his team mates.
In his contract year.. is he gonna play hard or protect himself?
This is Gods department. It's called loving the game & trusting God w your destiny.
 
I honestly see both sides in this matter. But If I were an NFL GM, I would heavily consider the team first player over the me first player.

Suterman - I don't watch the nfl or nba but both leagues, IMO, have become nothing but "me first". Watched an old replay of an early 70's game b/t nebby and OU awhile back. Players ran the ball, got knocked down, got up and handed the ball to the ref. No showboating, no signaling first down by the player, no milking the crowd for adulation.

I'd rather this kid go make his millions than go on welfare. To insinuate or isolate his actions as selfish I think while maybe correct doesn't fully paint the whole picture of the sports world we live in. I am pretty much down to just college football & basketball now. And even my interest in those two is slowly eroding to the point where I'll be done with sports as a whole one day.
 
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It's a really tough spot that the players have been put in and I blame the system as much as the players/agents. At some point as earlier noted, when do you just not play at all and say I am saving my talents for the NFL!

Completely ditch the current bowl system, and go to a true playoff system. That would end this scenario from happening. I think.
 
And Jackson played in field conditions that could exacerbate the extent of a possible injury. Shows TEAM PLAYER to me!

Taking a knee before the game even starts, usually gets NFL fans riled up!

I'm not convinced of that. At least for lower leg injuries. A foot was not going to get stuck planted in the turf during that game.
 
All I know is that the NFL GMs do not care that he skipped the bowl game. Ex. Christain Mccaffery and Fournette, they even went higher than they were projected at this time last year. Also skipping games is common in the NFL look at all the guys sitting the last week. Whether it be for teams in the playoffs or out the playoffs, guys who have a potential bonus and the GM tells the coach to bench them, and guys on contract years who are sitting out due to “injury”.
 
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I'm not convinced of that. At least for lower leg injuries. A foot was not going to get stuck planted in the turf during that game.

I have to agree with you. Played and coached for a long time and without question saw fewer injuries when footing was “bad”. Always hear people say “stop/delay/ postpone game for player safety because of field conditions. My experience was different.
 
All I know is this:

Bowl games count against a team's record of wins and losses. The stats count for that player's and team's season. The games are televised like any other game, and tickets are sold for probably higher prices than regular season games. And fans spend a crapload of money for travel and lodging to watch these games.

To me, this doesn't sound like a game that "doesn't count," or is "just an exhibition."

At what point in a season do games stop "counting"? If you are a great player on a bad team, do you just stop playing when your team is eliminated from your conference championship? Or maybe you quit after your third loss, since your team will never get into the playoff.

Or maybe we should just stop playing college FB games altogether, in the off-chance that some really great players might get hurt playing in a college game and not get their chance to play in the NFL.

My opinion: if you are healthy yet you skip your bowl game, you are crapping all over your teammates and fans, and you should not be allowed to participate in the festivities in any way whatsoever.
 
I have to agree with you. Played and coached for a long time and without question saw fewer injuries when footing was “bad”. Always hear people say “stop/delay/ postpone game for player safety because of field conditions. My experience was different.
Hitting your head on a frozen field because you unexpectedly slipped and fell is probably the biggest risk of playing on that kind of field. Honestly, the playing conditions in Yankee Stadium that day should deep-six that bowl, for any number of valid
reasons.
 
Hitting your head on a frozen field because you unexpectedly slipped and fell is probably the biggest risk of playing on that kind of field. Honestly, the playing conditions in Yankee Stadium that day should deep-six that bowl, for any number of valid
reasons.


You’re probably right but that frozen field was no harder than some of turf fields I played on. Kinnick being one of them.
 
With a playoff bowl games are just an exhibition.

The bigger the playoff gets the better IMO.

Bowls = NIT. They could go away completely for all I care.
 
I honestly see both sides in this matter. But If I were an NFL GM, I would heavily consider the team first player over the me first player.

Teams in the nfl sit healthy guys all the time when theres nothing to play for.

Bowls are nothing.
 
What about all the coaches and players who put their time into it with him, do they not deserve to have him out there? He’s essentially getting paid to play and calling in sick.

Team, loyalty, sacrifice, friends vs individualism, selfishness
Makes no difference that salaries have increased, it is all relative. Bottom line is society has changed, for the worse
 
In 90% of the case it will change the family financial situation for 4 or 5 years. 80% of high draft picks go bankrupt.
How many players in the past have lost careers & millions of $$ by playing in a bowl game? Anybody?
This is a new "me 1st"/entitlement generation thing.
Kids might as well stop playing as soon as their team loses a 2nd game & they're out of playoff contention.
 
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If I was a NFL team, I’d take Jackson first in the draft. It really bothers me that someone would skip the game then release a twitter statement saying how he still wants to help the team.

Sorry, no link. Check the ESPN website.
Don't want to screw up the free NFL farm system. I hate the NFL.
 
He's an adult. Making decisions that effect his financial future. Why do you guys hate freedom? I guess you'd like to go back to the good ol slavery days? Indentured servitude?
 
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