Saquon Barkley, Josh Rosen & Sam Darnold Would Be Crazy to Play in Meaningless Bowls

BleedGopher

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Saquon Barkley, Josh Rosen & Sam Darnold Would Be Crazy to Play in Meaningless Bowls

per The Big Lead:

It’s well-established that college football bowl games are simply exhibition games in which the people in charge get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the players get fidget spinners or other trinkets.

If you’re going to be drafted high in the NFL Draft, there’s no point to playing in a bowl game that isn’t a playoff game. If you can’t help your draft stock, what is the point?

Take Florida State defensive back Derwin James. He’s a 1st round pick, perhaps as high as the top 10. He’s already announced he’s going to skip the “Walk-On’s Independence Bowl,” which is smart.

I’m not sure why Bryce Love of Stanford is playing in the “Valero Alamo Bowl,” when he’s already bolstered his stock into being a 1st round pick. Love was slowed late in the season by an ankle injury; why would he play a game that means nothing and risk further injury?

UCLA QB Josh Rosen almost certainly won’t play in the “Cactus Bowl” on December 26th. Barring an off-the-field disaster in the coming months, Rosen will be a Top 5 pick, perhaps even #1.

I’m a little worried that Saquon Barkley, the most talented offense player in college football this season, hasn’t backed out of playing in the Fiesta Bowl. He’s got nothing to gain going against the Washington Huskies. Absolutely nothing. Even if he’s got an insurance policy, Barkley can’t help himself. He can only hurt himself.

Which brings us to Sam Darnold, the great USC QB who I believe would be the #1 pick in the draft if he were to come out. I think he’ll the best QB to enter the draft since Andrew Luck. But Darnold hasn’t made a decision on if he’s coming out yet, and he hasn’t given a hint he won’t play against Ohio State.

It’s interesting he’s facing the Buckeyes, because it is clearly the #1 bowl game after the playoff games. But Ohio State has maybe three defensive lineman who will play in the NFL, and two of them – Sam Hubbard and Tyquan Lewis – might be drafted in first round next year. Another one, Nick Bosa, is a potential Top 5 pick in 2019.

Why would Darnold – who has played behind a shaky line this season due to injuries – risk getting hurt in the Cotton Bowl? In a few years, nobody will remember the Cotton Bowl – unless something happens to a star.

http://thebiglead.com/2017/12/08/saquon-barkley-josh-rosen-sam-darnold-nfl-draft-skip-bowl-games/

Go Gophers!!
 

per The Big Lead:

It’s well-established that college football bowl games are simply exhibition games in which the people in charge get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the players get fidget spinners or other trinkets.

If you’re going to be drafted high in the NFL Draft, there’s no point to playing in a bowl game that isn’t a playoff game. If you can’t help your draft stock, what is the point?

Take Florida State defensive back Derwin James. He’s a 1st round pick, perhaps as high as the top 10. He’s already announced he’s going to skip the “Walk-On’s Independence Bowl,” which is smart.

I’m not sure why Bryce Love of Stanford is playing in the “Valero Alamo Bowl,” when he’s already bolstered his stock into being a 1st round pick. Love was slowed late in the season by an ankle injury; why would he play a game that means nothing and risk further injury?

UCLA QB Josh Rosen almost certainly won’t play in the “Cactus Bowl” on December 26th. Barring an off-the-field disaster in the coming months, Rosen will be a Top 5 pick, perhaps even #1.

I’m a little worried that Saquon Barkley, the most talented offense player in college football this season, hasn’t backed out of playing in the Fiesta Bowl. He’s got nothing to gain going against the Washington Huskies. Absolutely nothing. Even if he’s got an insurance policy, Barkley can’t help himself. He can only hurt himself.

Which brings us to Sam Darnold, the great USC QB who I believe would be the #1 pick in the draft if he were to come out. I think he’ll the best QB to enter the draft since Andrew Luck. But Darnold hasn’t made a decision on if he’s coming out yet, and he hasn’t given a hint he won’t play against Ohio State.

It’s interesting he’s facing the Buckeyes, because it is clearly the #1 bowl game after the playoff games. But Ohio State has maybe three defensive lineman who will play in the NFL, and two of them – Sam Hubbard and Tyquan Lewis – might be drafted in first round next year. Another one, Nick Bosa, is a potential Top 5 pick in 2019.

Why would Darnold – who has played behind a shaky line this season due to injuries – risk getting hurt in the Cotton Bowl? In a few years, nobody will remember the Cotton Bowl – unless something happens to a star.

http://thebiglead.com/2017/12/08/saquon-barkley-josh-rosen-sam-darnold-nfl-draft-skip-bowl-games/

Go Gophers!!

That really puts the "I" in team. If you are injured I understand. Do you rob your team and fans of the chances of watching their team win? People pay good money to go to bowl games to see their team and stars battle to win.

Love, Barkley, and Donald will play because they are class acts and not self-evolved individuals.
 

If they tear their ACL in a bowl game, and throw their NFL career in the toilet??

I wouldn't be bothered one bit if they elected not to play in the bowl game.
 

They should make their own decision. The same could be said of any game after their team’s second loss though. Once you’re eliminated from national title convention does it make any game meaningless?
 

If they tear their ACL in a bowl game, and throw their NFL career in the toilet??

I wouldn't be bothered one bit if they elected not to play in the bowl game.

These are student athletes and you use the degree you worked so hard to get. Oh wait.
 


These are student athletes and you use the degree you worked so hard to get. Oh wait.

Correct on the "oh wait" part, and everyone knows it. P5 college football is the same thing as the NFL. It's a football business, and if you're lucky enough and work hard enough, you might get a chance to play in the NFL.
 

They would be crazy to. Would say the same if it were a Gopher in that position.
 

I hate this type of talk. I think it says something about their character if they quit on their team like this. If this is their reasoning, then once their team cant make the playoffs, they should walk away from the season and get ready for the draft. why play in the last 2 regular season games if you aren't going to play in the bowl game? Cant you get hurt is those games as well? Take out a Lloyd's of London policy if you are worried about injury.
 

They should make their own decision. The same could be said of any game after their team’s second loss though. Once you’re eliminated from national title convention does it make any game meaningless?

I kind of wonder about this as well. Not playing in the bowl game to save yourself from injury seems logical to me, but why wouldn't Florida State's surefire NFL talent not just choose to ride the bench the rest of the season after a 1-3 start? Do players have a competitive drive that compels them to play in the regular season, but then they decide that any bowl game that isn't the playoff or NY6 is meaningless? I suppose your stock will fall if you just don't play for a long time, but I wonder if maybe good players on bad teams would start sitting out during the regular season.
 



I would think these bowls would be one last fun experience of the year for everyone as a team. For individuals who pull out I just disagree with their decisions. As indicated earlier in the thread...buy some insurance if you're concerned.
 


I can't side with a player that decides not to play in a game for fear of injury.

From a coach's perspective, not playing in any game that you have the ability to play in makes a player undesirable.

Play until the whistle.
Play in every game that you can to the best of your ability Everytime every down every game every season.



Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
 

I hate this type of talk. I think it says something about their character if they quit on their team like this. If this is their reasoning, then once their team cant make the playoffs, they should walk away from the season and get ready for the draft. why play in the last 2 regular season games if you aren't going to play in the bowl game? Cant you get hurt is those games as well? Take out a Lloyd's of London policy if you are worried about injury.

"Character"? Seriously? Once they went to a playoff system it seems to have made all the other bowl games inconsequential. We've had plenty of threads and posts saying how "meaningless" it would be if the Gophers got in a minor bowl. How there are too many bowls also.

Me? Love the vast majority of bowls and while it bothers me a little, not gonna lose any sleep over it.

Seems much better than the "one and done" of College Basketball. There many kids don't go to school after the Fall semester and bail on their teammates after a barely a year out of their 4 year "commitment".

That makes the idea of a kid who's already played 3,4 or 5 years with his team skipping a "meaningless" bowl game pretty meaningless in itself.
 



I hate this type of talk. I think it says something about their character if they quit on their team like this. If this is their reasoning, then once their team cant make the playoffs, they should walk away from the season and get ready for the draft. why play in the last 2 regular season games if you aren't going to play in the bowl game? Cant you get hurt is those games as well? Take out a Lloyd's of London policy if you are worried about injury.

Could the school do that on their behalf? If not, what if the player cannot afford such policy?
 

There is one reason (maybe two) that I might understand why a player might sit out a so-called meaningless bowl game. That is the fact that there often is a long wait between the end of conference play and the bowl season. If your team has to wait a month to play in a bowl game, it may make the chance of injury greater...

There's also the fact that some of these scholar-athletes (the ones who've used up their eligibility, anyways) have given up on their academic careers in anticipation of a big payday... They are not hanging around at school. They are working out somewhere for draft preperation.
 

If I was guaranteed a million dollar payday and the only thing that could derail that was a final exam in Biology where my success meant very little but my failure (injury) meant a lot - I would FOR SURE skip that exam. Bowl games are meaningless, money-grabs. Truthfully I'm not really sure why coaches play any of their important players that plan on coming back....these games are on the level of the an NFL preseason game.
 

If I was guaranteed a million dollar payday and the only thing that could derail that was a final exam in Biology where my success meant very little but my failure (injury) meant a lot - I would FOR SURE skip that exam. Bowl games are meaningless, money-grabs. Truthfully I'm not really sure why coaches play any of their important players that plan on coming back....these games are on the level of the an NFL preseason game.

But by this logic Rosen and many of his teammates shouldn't have been playing for a long time. Their games have technically been meaningless for awhile.
 

If I was guaranteed a million dollar payday and the only thing that could derail that was a final exam in Biology where my success meant very little but my failure (injury) meant a lot - I would FOR SURE skip that exam. Bowl games are meaningless, money-grabs. Truthfully I'm not really sure why coaches play any of their important players that plan on coming back....these games are on the level of the an NFL preseason game.

You had some good points but you're dead wrong on the last sentence. NFL preseason games are truly exhibition games. Or extortion games if you'd like.
Except for the money they make, none of it matters. Some "team leaders" for those games don't even make the final cut.

Bowl games however, are all part of a college team's season. All the players stats count. The same as they do in their first 12 games. If Brian Lewerke goes 18 for 22 for 315 yards and 2 TDs against WSU on 12/28, they are all part of his stats for 2017. Since MSU went 9-3 in their first 12 games, if they win that Holiday Bowl Game against WSU, their season record will be 10-3. Despite what people have said, their will be no * on their record.

That's just a "GopherHole" thing.
 

But by this logic Rosen and many of his teammates shouldn't have been playing for a long time. Their games have technically been meaningless for awhile.

Well they did keep Rosen on the bench for the second half of their last game.
 

Well they did keep Rosen on the bench for the second half of their last game.

That's because he got hurt in the 1st half and his replacement had of hell-of-a 2nd Half.

"Rosen, an elite NFL prospect possibly playing his final home game before declaring for the draft, was sacked three times in the first half. He landed roughly on his right shoulder and neck while getting thrown down by Alex Funches late in the first half, and the Bruins decided not to risk his health further.

"I think he didn't know where we were coming from," Funches said. "He didn't know how we were going to get there, but we got there. We shook him up."..

Molson hit a 37-yard field goal with four seconds left after backup quarterback Devon Modster led a clutch scoring drive, and UCLA secured bowl eligibility under interim coach Jedd Fisch with a 30-27 victory over California on Friday night.

Modster passed for 191 yards after replacing Josh Rosen at halftime, and he coolly moved the Bruins (6-6, 4-5 Pac-12) into scoring position before Molson drilled the eventual winner. UCLA went 6-0 in Pasadena this season and finished strong under Fisch, who took over last Sunday after Mora was fired late in his sixth season in Westwood..

http://www.espn.com/ncf/recap/_/id/400935326

 

That's because he got hurt in the 1st half and his replacement had of hell-of-a 2nd Half.

"Rosen, an elite NFL prospect possibly playing his final home game before declaring for the draft, was sacked three times in the first half. He landed roughly on his right shoulder and neck while getting thrown down by Alex Funches late in the first half, and the Bruins decided not to risk his health further.

"I think he didn't know where we were coming from," Funches said. "He didn't know how we were going to get there, but we got there. We shook him up."..

Molson hit a 37-yard field goal with four seconds left after backup quarterback Devon Modster led a clutch scoring drive, and UCLA secured bowl eligibility under interim coach Jedd Fisch with a 30-27 victory over California on Friday night.

Modster passed for 191 yards after replacing Josh Rosen at halftime, and he coolly moved the Bruins (6-6, 4-5 Pac-12) into scoring position before Molson drilled the eventual winner. UCLA went 6-0 in Pasadena this season and finished strong under Fisch, who took over last Sunday after Mora was fired late in his sixth season in Westwood..

http://www.espn.com/ncf/recap/_/id/400935326


Right, he got banged up but could have still played. If they were playing for anything meaningful, he would have played the 2nd half.
 

Right, he got banged up but could have still played. If they were playing for anything meaningful, he would have played the 2nd half.

In your opinion. An opinion not held by the coach or maybe even the team.

"We did it for the seniors, for Coach Mora, for Coach Fisch, and for Coach Mora's legacy," Molson said. "It's definitely different without Coach Mora. ... There's kind of a void, but Coach Fisch did a great job of telling us to carry on his legacy. This week was a bit weird, but we just practiced every day and got the job done."..

"It was so much fun to see those guys playing so hard to get to a bowl," Fisch said. "Getting to six wins is huge. Ask all those teams that got five, four and three wins."
 

In your opinion. An opinion not held by the coach or maybe even the team.

"We did it for the seniors, for Coach Mora, for Coach Fisch, and for Coach Mora's legacy," Molson said. "It's definitely different without Coach Mora. ... There's kind of a void, but Coach Fisch did a great job of telling us to carry on his legacy. This week was a bit weird, but we just practiced every day and got the job done."..

"It was so much fun to see those guys playing so hard to get to a bowl," Fisch said. "Getting to six wins is huge. Ask all those teams that got five, four and three wins."

Fisch flat out said in the post game presser he pulled Rosen for ‘precautionary reasons’
 

Fisch flat out said in the post game presser he pulled Rosen for ‘precautionary reasons’

Really? You mean the quote that was used in #20? :rolleyes: "Rosen, an elite NFL prospect possibly playing his final home game before declaring for the draft, was sacked three times in the first half. He landed roughly on his right shoulder and neck while getting thrown down by Alex Funches late in the first half, and the Bruins decided not to risk his health further."

Your augment than is that if Rosen wasn't an NFL prospect then they would have risked his health. That's pretty thin.
 

Really? You mean the quote that was used in #20? :rolleyes: "Rosen, an elite NFL prospect possibly playing his final home game before declaring for the draft, was sacked three times in the first half. He landed roughly on his right shoulder and neck while getting thrown down by Alex Funches late in the first half, and the Bruins decided not to risk his health further."

Your augment than is that if Rosen wasn't an NFL prospect then they would have risked his health. That's pretty thin.

I don’t see a direct quote from Fisch anywhere in that :rolleyes:

But sure the best QBs in the country routinely get benched after taking a few sacks for precautionary reasons. His injuries that he was never diagnosed with totally prevented him from playing. :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 

I don’t see a direct quote from Fisch anywhere in that :rolleyes:

But sure the best QBs in the country routinely get benched after taking a few sacks for precautionary reasons. His injuries that he was never diagnosed with totally prevented him from playing. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

You're cute when it's getting close to your bedtime. He was benched because he was an NFL prospect huh? That was the point you were trying to make before you went into full deflection mode. Here's what the LA Times said about the game. Noticed you missed the "Bowl Game" part. ;)

"Quarterback Josh Rosen was forced out of what might have been his final home game as a Bruin on Friday night after getting thrown to the turf for a sack late in the second quarter at the Rose Bowl.

Rosen remained in the game against California for three more plays but appeared to acknowledge that he would not return after a discussion with team staffers. He clutched his helmet with both hands and slammed it to the ground while seated on the bench in the moments before halftime.

Things would turn considerably more upbeat for UCLA when backup quarterback Devon Modster helped his team drive into position for J.J. Molson’s 37-yard field goal with four seconds left that gave the Bruins a 30-27 victory.

Rosen’s early exit left him 24 yards short of surpassing Brett Hundley for the school’s single-season passing record. Rosen completed 13 of 18 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 3,717 yards for the season.

UCLA interim coach Jedd Fisch did not specify the nature of Rosen’s injury but said he was pulled for precautionary reasons.

“We want to make sure that he is healthy for the bowl game,” Fisch said. “He got hit pretty hard on that one sack and he wants to make sure that he is healthy for the bowl game as well.”
 

They should make their own decision.

If you are a projected top 10-15 pick, I wouldn't blame anyone who sits out of a bowl game.

Remember Jaylon Smith. (Top 5 pick before Fiesta Bowl injury)
 

You're cute when it's getting close to your bedtime. He was benched because he was an NFL prospect huh? That was the point you were trying to make before you went into full deflection mode. Here's what the LA Times said about the game. Noticed you missed the "Bowl Game" part. ;)

"Quarterback Josh Rosen was forced out of what might have been his final home game as a Bruin on Friday night after getting thrown to the turf for a sack late in the second quarter at the Rose Bowl.

Rosen remained in the game against California for three more plays but appeared to acknowledge that he would not return after a discussion with team staffers. He clutched his helmet with both hands and slammed it to the ground while seated on the bench in the moments before halftime.

Things would turn considerably more upbeat for UCLA when backup quarterback Devon Modster helped his team drive into position for J.J. Molson’s 37-yard field goal with four seconds left that gave the Bruins a 30-27 victory.

Rosen’s early exit left him 24 yards short of surpassing Brett Hundley for the school’s single-season passing record. Rosen completed 13 of 18 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 3,717 yards for the season.

UCLA interim coach Jedd Fisch did not specify the nature of Rosen’s injury but said he was pulled for precautionary reasons.

“We want to make sure that he is healthy for the bowl game,” Fisch said. “He got hit pretty hard on that one sack and he wants to make sure that he is healthy for the bowl game as well.”

I didn't miss the bowl game part. It's pretty hard to believe he was benched to save him for the bowl game that they hadn't even made yet because they only had 5 wins.

He's also not just any NFL prospect, he'll likely be the #1 pick. That's why he was benched for 'precautionary reasons'. He has nothing left to prove in college.
 

You're cute when it's getting close to your bedtime. He was benched because he was an NFL prospect huh? That was the point you were trying to make before you went into full deflection mode. Here's what the LA Times said about the game. Noticed you missed the "Bowl Game" part. ;)

"Quarterback Josh Rosen was forced out of what might have been his final home game as a Bruin on Friday night after getting thrown to the turf for a sack late in the second quarter at the Rose Bowl.

Rosen remained in the game against California for three more plays but appeared to acknowledge that he would not return after a discussion with team staffers. He clutched his helmet with both hands and slammed it to the ground while seated on the bench in the moments before halftime.

Things would turn considerably more upbeat for UCLA when backup quarterback Devon Modster helped his team drive into position for J.J. Molson’s 37-yard field goal with four seconds left that gave the Bruins a 30-27 victory.

Rosen’s early exit left him 24 yards short of surpassing Brett Hundley for the school’s single-season passing record. Rosen completed 13 of 18 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 3,717 yards for the season.

UCLA interim coach Jedd Fisch did not specify the nature of Rosen’s injury but said he was pulled for precautionary reasons.

“We want to make sure that he is healthy for the bowl game,” Fisch said. “He got hit pretty hard on that one sack and he wants to make sure that he is healthy for the bowl game as well.”

GWG is the King of pivots and qualifiers.
 

The important word here is meaningless. Correct me if I’m wrong, but bowl games count toward overall records. That would mean that they are not meaningless.
 




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