Ex-Miami coach thinks bowl skipping players would 'tank it' in the NFL too

For players who decide to skip their bowl game to prep for the NFL draft, the logic seems pretty sound. By not risking their bodies in otherwise meaningless games during which they earn no money, pro prospects can instead work on improving their athletic abilities off the field in order to impress NFL teams who will pay them for their services.

Say what you will about how it changes bowl games, but it’s hard to argue against each player’s individual decision to take the field or not.

Unless the person arguing is former Miami head coach Randy Shannon. Now the defensive coordinator at UCF, Shannon told ESPN that while he doesn’t fault players for skipping bowl games, he worries that the mindset behind it may become a problem in their pro careers.

“If a team is 6-9, no chance of them making the playoffs, are they going to play or are they going to tank it?” Shannon said at his media session via ESPN. “Especially if you’re on the last year of your contract, option year. My opinion, it probably will fester more and more in college. And then now the NFL is going to have to make a decision. If you draft a young man that leaves early and now you’re not a playoff team, that young man [is] going to say, ‘I’m not going to play.’ Same situation. Right, wrong or indifferent.”

In other words: If an unpaid player isn’t suiting up for their bowl game, why would that same player continue taking the field as a professional for a bottom-dwelling team?

The answer appears to be in the question itself — because the players in the NFL are getting paid to take the field. And those who aren’t playing in bowl games are abstaining in hopes of boosting their chances at a lucrative contract. The idea that someone in a contract year on a bad team wouldn’t be playing at all, let alone playing at their best, doesn’t add up simply because there’s a major incentive for the player to prove his worth.

Take the two most notable cases yet of players skipping bowl games: LSU running back Leonard Fournette and Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey. Neither had anything to prove to the NFL at the time of their final college games and could only stand to decrease their value to pro teams. Fournette, with his history of hamstring issues, did himself a favor by making sure he was healthy for the draft. McCaffrey, who had also suffered an injury earlier in his final season at Stanford, saw no reason to risk his body, either. Neither Stanford nor LSU were contending for a national championship at that point. Whatever loss was felt by their schools was marginal at best.

McCaffrey and Fournette were both selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft and haven’t looked back. Could both still have been taken that high had they played in their bowl games? Sure. But the risk wouldn’t have been worth it.

Shannon might not agree with that reasoning, but the results aren’t exactly on his side here.

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Blake Schuster is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Schustee

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