How do you feel about players skipping bowl games to not risk injury and prepare for the NFL Combine?

I don't like it. If a player feels like they are that "borderline" that they need 3 months to prepare like a track athlete, in order to put on a faster façade of who they are as an actual player, I feel like they need to go out and make one last statement on the football field..

Just my opinion, I'm sure others will differ.

Can’t blame them.

Linebacker Jaylon Smith injured himself in the Fiesta bowl a couple of years back. He was a top ten pick that eventually fell to 34th. He received a contract for four years, 6.5 million. The 10th pick that year, Eli Apple got 4 years, 15 million. Smith’s bowl game injury cost him over 8 million.

the NFL combine should be banned. It got us Ross AND regardless of the combine, we still got out of shape players like our #1 draft Smith a few years back. Overrated.

Jiggly!
http://www.nfl.com/videos/cincinnati-bengals/0ap2000000139000/Andre-Smith-s-pro-day-40-yard-dash

(12-22-2017, 02:59 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I don't like it.  If a player feels like they are that "borderline" that they need 3 months to prepare like a track athlete, in order to put on a faster façade of who they are as an actual player, I feel like they need to go out and make one last statement on the football field..

Just my opinion, I'm sure others will differ.

This is how I feel as well......which is another reason I was on the Dalvin Cook train.  He not only showed up for the bowl game, he OWNED it.  Against your favorite college team, no less.

I don't care either way whether they play in bowl games or not. The team that should be concerned should be the college teams. It's not like the final exam to determine whether they know how to play football. Obviously they do. It's more a question about whether they care about their alma matter or not and if they don't will they care about the pro team enough which I suspect they don't. 
Most players are going to go where the money is. 
Too many people get hung up on team loyalty or loyalty to the town the team calls home, but let's face it. These players almost never grow up in the towns they play in then move on to where the biggest paycheck comes from. 
If I felt the same way about my home town I'd still be living in Dayton off East Third Street trying to convince you how wonderful East Dayton is even though it's basically a white ghetto..Well, kind of mixed these days, but it still stinks.. 
Most of these players come from crappy little parts of towns in poverty stricken areas then make it big as the local hero football players never to be heard from again. They have to look out for themselves first because the league sure as hell isn't going to especially if they get seriously injured in the bowl game and never get the chance to play in the league. At that point they're only a sad story about the guy who might have been. Nobody gets paid to be a might have been player.

After Jayln Smith I don't see how anyone can or be willing to play in a bowl game. Also if you want them to play then pay them.

(12-22-2017, 02:51 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: How do you feel about players skipping bowl games to not risk injury and prepare for the NFL Combine?

Does this count that Pro Bowl we all cursed Eifert for playing in?

Ask Tyler Eifert.

(12-22-2017, 03:04 PM)Goalpost Wrote: Can’t blame them.

Linebacker Jaylon Smith injured himself in the Fiesta bowl a couple of years back.  He was a top ten pick that eventually fell to 34th.  He received a contract for four years, 6.5 million.  The 10th pick that year, Eli Apple got 4 years, 15 million.  Smith’s bowl game injury cost him over 8 million.

This. It's just not worth getting hurt for some of these players. It could potentially cost them millions of dollars. 

If I'm a surefire first round draft pick, my college career is over in late November/early December. It's a no-brainer, if you ask me

When you think about it college football should be insuring players careers for them in case of big time injuries. 
Say for example some big time QB destined to go to the NFL, but gets injured so bad he never gets a shot..That's potential millions of dollars tossed down the drain, but there's plenty of other examples every year. 
The argument can be made that they go to college for a good education, but we all know that with star athletes they're all too often there to make money for the college and nobody else and if they get hurt, well tough luck. Once they're off the team they're on their own, but try even studying with some kind of serious spinal injury. Chances are that player will be too doped up on pain medication to study if they were even a decent student to begin with. If not and the only future they ever had was the NFL they should at minimum be able to collect on insurance to carry them through for at least a few years if not further. 

Oh well..I never played college sports and sure as hell was never going to be a professional athlete.  

Ya, after Jaylon Smith's injury and Tyler Eifert's Pro Bowl.....I don't care what players do.  If they want to skip it, to each their own.  They have to look out for themselves.  Especially if its a meaningless bowl like the Bad Boys Big Mowers bowl or the Idaho, no you da hoe, Potatoes bowl.  and most especially that stupid effing Pro Bowl.  F*** that game.

(12-22-2017, 02:51 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: How do you feel about players skipping bowl games to not risk injury and prepare for the NFL Combine?

To me, it just goes to show you the kind of person they are.
To me, it suggests they care more about making money then about winning football games.

I would be wary of selecting any of these guys, because, to me, this suggests the kind of player who will hold out for more money during training camp and things of that nature.

To me.

Like it or not, I'd say get used to it. Seems like it's the wave of the future. You can't un-ring a bell.

(12-22-2017, 03:22 PM)Wyche Wrote: This is how I feel as well......which is another reason I was on the Dalvin Cook train.  He not only showed up for the bowl game, he OWNED it.  Against your favorite college team, no less.

I have several life long friends and cousins, back in Ohio, that are Michigan fans.  You don't think they avoid my posts and phone calls, every time the Buckeyes whip that ass??  

(12-22-2017, 04:16 PM)PhilHos Wrote: To me, it just goes to show you the kind of person they are.
To me, it suggests they care more about making money then about winning football games.

I would be wary of selecting any of these guys, because, to me, this suggests the kind of player who will hold out for more money during training camp and things of that nature.

To me.

Ehh, 32 out of 32 NFL teams are looking to make money too, so they'll be in good company.

(12-22-2017, 03:04 PM)Goalpost Wrote: Can’t blame them.

Linebacker Jaylon Smith injured himself in the Fiesta bowl a couple of years back. He was a top ten pick that eventually fell to 34th. He received a contract for four years, 6.5 million. The 10th pick that year, Eli Apple got 4 years, 15 million. Smith’s bowl game injury cost him over 8 million.

Didn't he have an insurance policy? I don't know, but he should've.

I don't give a flying **** what they do. I'm not gonna watch 98% of the bowl.games anyway. They aren't telling me what to do either.

If they aren’t in the playoffs, I have zero problem with it. When you are only 6 months from possibly hitting the lottery and all you have to do is stay healthy, why risk it?

All this “love of football, rah, rah” stuff ends once you decide to go pro. You want a long lucrative career? Minimize risks.

Silver lining for the bowl games, gives the team an extra couple
Of weeks of practice and a game for younger players to get better, if the guy turning pro isn’t there.

(12-22-2017, 02:51 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: How do you feel about players skipping bowl games to not risk injury and prepare for the NFL Combine?

Why risk getting injured to make a college millions that wont give you a Dime with your check for millions could be just a few months away.


Hurts college football though as basically makes bowl games like the pro bowl meaningless.. (really though bowl titles are meaningless)

Paying College players would probly fix this....