Gophers Donnell Greene signs with an agent, will not play in bowl game

Apparently some of you are having difficulty understanding he had a torn meniscus and continuing to play on it could set him up for worse issues with the knee.

That's what I was getting at earlier. at this point, I'm not sure if Greene is even capable of playing in the game. If the knee is not going to be healed by the bowl game, then you're looking at a choice of an injured player who is less than 100% versus a healthy player who may not be as good, but is healthy.

The timing stinks, but that's life. I guess the other question (which again, I cannot answer) is whether Greene would have made the same choice if the knee was 100% healthy. that would change the whole equation.

so, it could be (option A): "I can't play in the game anyway because of my knee, so I might as while sign with an agent and start planning for my future."

Or, it could be (option B): "I could play in the game at 80%, and run the risk of an injury that might end my shot at the pros. I'm not risking my future by playing in the bowl game."

Until or unless someone comes out with the "inside" story, we may never know.
 

That's what I was getting at earlier. at this point, I'm not sure if Greene is even capable of playing in the game. If the knee is not going to be healed by the bowl game, then you're looking at a choice of an injured player who is less than 100% versus a healthy player who may not be as good, but is healthy.

The timing stinks, but that's life. I guess the other question (which again, I cannot answer) is whether Greene would have made the same choice if the knee was 100% healthy. that would change the whole equation.

so, it could be (option A): "I can't play in the game anyway because of my knee, so I might as while sign with an agent and start planning for my future."

Or, it could be (option B): "I could play in the game at 80%, and run the risk of an injury that might end my shot at the pros. I'm not risking my future by playing in the bowl game."

Until or unless someone comes out with the "inside" story, we may never know.

Frankly there are plenty of college players who say (option C): "I could play in the game at 100%, an run the risk of an injury. I'm not risking my (NFL) future by playing in a 'meaningless' bowl game."
 

This board is crazy. All year fans want to get to 6 wins so we can go to a bowl game. Now that we get there and have a chance for a winning season, it’s meaningless.

Claeys and the 2016 team were lauded for their great performance in the Holiday Bowl. Was that game meaningless too? I remember a lot of fans being excited about the win. Or maybe we only won because it was meaningless for WSU.

I recall so many posts in the past on GH of people willing to go 1-11 if that only win was against Wisconsin. This is a board with many differing opinions and the real answer is, we all want more wins. I am grateful to DG for coming back and playing in the last 2 out of 3 games that got us bowl eligible. I hope he is fully healthy going into the combine.
 

I recall so many posts in the past on GH of people willing to go 1-11 if that only win was against Wisconsin. This is a board with many differing opinions and the real answer is, we all want more wins. I am grateful to DG for coming back and playing in the last 2 out of 3 games that got us bowl eligible. I hope he is fully healthy going into the combine.

+1
 

I recall so many posts in the past on GH of people willing to go 1-11 if that only win was against Wisconsin. This is a board with many differing opinions and the real answer is, we all want more wins. I am grateful to DG for coming back and playing in the last 2 out of 3 games that got us bowl eligible. I hope he is fully healthy going into the combine.

You would think this is obvious, right? But it's exactly what people are arguing against.
 


You would think this is obvious, right? But it's exactly what people are arguing against.

Nobody here is saying "man I hope we lose." We all want to win every game we play. What I'm saying is that for GREENE the game is meaningless at this point. The guy has a freaking torn meniscus and needed surgery and you want him to risk his potential NFL career by playing on it in the freaking Quick Lane Bowl? If he was a junior and needed this surgery I'd bet that he wouldn't be playing anyway so he could get a jump start on the rehab. This isn't some guy sitting out to avoid getting injured, he is injured.
 

I would have thought that Greene's decision given his past/current health was a no brainer. Guess not.

I'm glad the Gophers are going to a Bowl of any kind given the path the season was headed up to Week 10 & I do not begrudge his decision one bit. Good luck to him!
 

I don't understand why people were still arguing after Pompous posted that Greene had the meniscus tear and would miss the game regardless. This way he gets to focus on being healthy for the most crucial part of his athletic career. Getting players in the NFL is big for college football programs. It allows the players to create more connections, and those connections could influence a future recruit to come to Minnesota.

This bowl game can be argued either way for "meaningless bowl game." When meaningless is being said, I think most are referring to players like Greene or others in his situation. He's projected as a late round pick and if he COULD play and got injured even worse, he stands to lose even more. Undrafted players have less of a chance at making an NFL roster, so in that regard it's a meaningless game for him. As for the Gophers, it's extremely beneficial. It allows the coaches to put together some lineups that they'd like to see for next year, and it adds more practice time for the entire team. Its easy to see why getting to a bowl game is so important for any teams future.
 

He had a meniscus tear and recent surgery which explains him hobbling around the field the last couple games.

Greene has signed an agreement with an agent after undergoing a recent meniscus surgery, which entails a 3-4 month rehab, and will skip Minnesota’s appearance in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit on Dec. 26, sources told the Pioneer Press on Thursday.

So 1) he can't play on a meniscus like he wants, which could potentially harm his assessmenta 2) if he continues to play he could propagate the tear and create a bigger medical mess, 3) he needs rehab time to prepare for the pro day and possible combine appearance. Sounds like he made the right decision and one I would hope anyone would make. I'm sure the coaches and team support him 100%. We're lucky he decided to finish out the regular season. Thanks again Donnell, and good luck.

Then it's not weird anymore. Hope he heals up okay.
 



This thread is 6-8 pages longer than it needed to be.
 

Two final comments:

-No game is meaningless as long as you are wearing the uniform! The all go on film and are in the record books.
-Greene is fine doing what he needs to do for his potential career in the NFL. We thank him for his Gopher career, wish him well and next man up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

I don't understand why people were still arguing after Pompous posted that Greene had the meniscus tear...

Because half the posters on this site think that real football is just like EA NCAA Football 2014.
 

You would think this is obvious, right? But it's exactly what people are arguing against.

Not really.

I think maybe people aren't viewing things in a vacuum.

We all want more wins. That's a given.

However, for these athletes, as people, we can understand why some of them sit out bowl games. I'm having a hard time following your attempt to shoe-horn those ideas as being somehow contradictory.
 



Because half the posters on this site think that real football is just like EA NCAA Football 2014.

Or because it's a trend in college football and we are capable of discussing hypotheticals.
 

It's one thing if a player skips a bowl game because he's already hurt. That appears to be the case with Greene. So it's a moot point. He would not have been available to play in the game, whether he signed with an agent or not.

It's an entirely different matter if a player is 100% healthy, and still skips the bowl game because he's worried about getting hurt and impacting his chances of going pro. On some level, I can understand it. I just don't like it. All season long, we hear about teamwork, the importance of the team concept, etc - but if the team qualifies for a bowl game, suddenly it's every man for himself? it just strikes me as odd.
 

Not really.

I think maybe people aren't viewing things in a vacuum.

We all want more wins. That's a given.

However, for these athletes, as people, we can understand why some of them sit out bowl games. I'm having a hard time following your attempt to shoe-horn those ideas as being somehow contradictory.

You appear to have not been following along on this one. Many people, thinking Greene was fully healthy, supported him getting ready for the draft and argued vehemently that having Greene in the NFL was more important than winning the bowl game.
 

You appear to have not been following along on this one. Many people, thinking Greene was fully healthy, supported him getting ready for the draft and argued vehemently that having Greene in the NFL was more important than winning the bowl game.

Yeah, I got it.

The world exists in a bit of nuance.

Like I said, it's entirely possible to say that we all want wins. It's also entirely possible to say, wins are incredibly important (the main way you judge a program), but we want what's best for the players, even if it slightly lowers our chance for a win.

You're confusing, or pretending to confuse, "winning matters" with "winning is the only thing that matters".
 

Yeah, I got it.

The world exists in a bit of nuance.

Like I said, it's entirely possible to say that we all want wins. It's also entirely possible to say, wins are incredibly important (the main way you judge a program), but we want what's best for the players, even if it slightly lowers our chance for a win.

You're confusing, or pretending to confuse, "winning matters" with "winning is the only thing that matters".

You appear to be confusing what’s best for Donnel Greene’s NFL career with what’s best for the Gophers.
 

You appear to be confusing what’s best for Donnel Greene’s NFL career with what’s best for the Gophers.

No, I don't.

I completely acknowledged it in my post. Read again.

"It's also entirely possible to say, wins are incredibly important (the main way you judge a program), but we want what's best for the players, even if it slightly lowers our chance for a win."

Why are you pretending to be confused about this?

There is a little bit of nuance in the world.
 

You appear to have not been following along on this one. Many people, thinking Greene was fully healthy, supported him getting ready for the draft and argued vehemently that having Greene in the NFL was more important than winning the bowl game.

He wasn’t healthy, and it’s 100% the coaches fault if they can’t field a serviceable line on the 26th. August 2019 isn’t far away either.
 




Top Bottom