Warm Take: Draft-eligible players sitting out the bowl - good for the players, good for the team

Submitted by Larry Appleton on December 18th, 2018 at 1:48 PM

I'll try to keep it quick.

The epidemic of draft-eligible players sitting out the bowl game is now apparently infecting even mid-to-late round prospects.  Ah well.  It's good for them, because they preserve their health and can instead prep for the combine, obviously.

BUT, it's good for the team, too!  A player who even THINKS about skipping the bowl game would never be that invested in the game anyway.  There'd likely be a thought in the back of his mind that he just CANNOT get injured.  And with that thought/worry, how hard is he going to play?

But who will play hard and leave everything on the field?  Players who backed up those upperclassmen and now get a chance to prove themselves on a massive stage.  If they want to prove that they belong amongst the starters next year and kickstart their own draft hype, they're gong to play lights out in the bowl game.

To sum it up, I feel MUCH more comfortable having Paye, Evans/Wilson/Turner, and A. Thomas playing than (still beloved) players who (wisely) have their mind on their draft stock.

Fin.

shoes

December 18th, 2018 at 5:12 PM ^

It's not a "glorified exhibition" to me and I suspect it isn't to most of the team either, including to those seniors who have no realistic prospects of a pro career. How do they feel when they look back years from now and say well we lost the Peach Bowl but at least X, Y, and Z avoided any risk of injury, and A, B, and C got an early start on next season.

What if it is say a Vanderbilt who is playing in a NY6 bowl for the first time in school history, same logic for their star(s) sitting out because it isn't the play-offs?

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taistreetsmyhero

December 18th, 2018 at 5:49 PM ^

Totally agreed. Once you are out of the playoff race, the season is over. The bowl game is all about building something better for next year. Why waste practice reps and snaps on guys who aren't going to be part of the team next year? The justification for playing seniors or early NFL entrees who WANT to play is that their experience and mentoring is still very valuable to underclassmen.

But I really don't think that players skipping non-playoff bowl games is a big deal. Once a player skips a playoff game, we can talk about there being an actual issue.

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