FWHORN
10,000+ Posts
Let me start by saying that I am normally very pro player on decisions related to holding out, contract disputes, opting out, leaving early etc. Football is the one sport without guaranteed contracts and the one sport where no next pay check is a given and your career can end in heartbeat. Its also the one sport where every year that your body takes hits is a lost year of earnings when you are doing it for free in college. So I never begrudge someone making a living and protecting that living by doing what they need to do.
But I have watched with a lot of interest as more and more players at the college level opt out late in seasons when there is little to no chance they will get drafted and slim chances they will make an NFL roster. I contrast someone like Cosmi who is possible first rounder and for whom the decision is supportable and understandable versus someone like Chris Brown who is unlikely to be drafted at all or even Caden Sterns who is at best a late round draft pick and most likely also going to be an undrafted free agent. I still remember Jevan Snead leaving school a year early because of bad advice and going undrafted and basically being done. I don't know what advice certain players are being given but if you are at best undrafted free agent what do you gain from leaving early, opting out etc. and not having another chance to put some plays on film to show NFL GM's and scouts. I get that seeing what happened to Kerstetter probably freaked out some players and I get the thought process that if I have any chance at all why take the risk of blowing up my life by some freak injury in a nothing bowl but right now the odds of you being on an NFL roster next fall are very low and the risk reward is weighing toward showing as much as you can and not toward sitting out.
It seems the process of evaluation and how that is used to advise players is broken and with so many agents and their runners getting in kids ears the real advice is often lost in the constant stream of bad. I dont know what the answer is but the system certainly doesnt seem to be in favor of the players getting the advice they need to make smart decisions.
But I have watched with a lot of interest as more and more players at the college level opt out late in seasons when there is little to no chance they will get drafted and slim chances they will make an NFL roster. I contrast someone like Cosmi who is possible first rounder and for whom the decision is supportable and understandable versus someone like Chris Brown who is unlikely to be drafted at all or even Caden Sterns who is at best a late round draft pick and most likely also going to be an undrafted free agent. I still remember Jevan Snead leaving school a year early because of bad advice and going undrafted and basically being done. I don't know what advice certain players are being given but if you are at best undrafted free agent what do you gain from leaving early, opting out etc. and not having another chance to put some plays on film to show NFL GM's and scouts. I get that seeing what happened to Kerstetter probably freaked out some players and I get the thought process that if I have any chance at all why take the risk of blowing up my life by some freak injury in a nothing bowl but right now the odds of you being on an NFL roster next fall are very low and the risk reward is weighing toward showing as much as you can and not toward sitting out.
It seems the process of evaluation and how that is used to advise players is broken and with so many agents and their runners getting in kids ears the real advice is often lost in the constant stream of bad. I dont know what the answer is but the system certainly doesnt seem to be in favor of the players getting the advice they need to make smart decisions.
