A topic that used to be controversial, but has become the norm rather quickly, is that of players sitting out bowl games to preserve their health heading into that huge payday otherwise known as the NFL Draft. It's amazing to me how quickly that went from 'hot-button' issue, on the levels of "should we be paying college athletes?" to now, it's like we expect it. I assume that speedy level of acceptance comes from the numerous tales we have now of players getting hurt towards the end of their college playing career, and realizing how much money is at stake if that happens.
It was just 2 years ago when Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette say out of their respective bowl games and were ridiculed, massively, by college football fans and media alike. Don't believe me? Read the tweet from Kirk Herbstreit below. But what people have come to realize, after watching injuries to Marcus Lattimore, Jaylon Smith, McKenzie Milton, and Jake Butt...is that there's a lot of money to lose, especially if you're a projected first round pick. The amount of money lost can equal up to 10 million dollars.
With Stanford RB Bryce Love making the announcement yesterday that he'll be sitting out of Stanford's bowl game (vs Pitt in the Sun Bowl) the tally has now reached 14 according to my calculations.
Question is, will this trend ever make it to the CFB Playoff? I say yes, what say you? Listen and vote below!