Sitting out the new CFB playoff

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Will healthy players sit out at least 1 CFB playoff game?

Poll ended at Sun Oct 09, 2022 10:14 am

Yes
1
33%
No
2
67%
 
Total votes: 3

Snake
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Sitting out the new CFB playoff

Post by Snake »

It is a well-documented phenomenon…Top NFL prospects sitting out “bowl” games. We’ve also seen projected first round picks shelving themselves early in the season instead of playing hurt (Nick Bosa).

I cannot recall any healthy players who have sat out the college football playoffs to protect their NFL chances. But adding this many games of high level competition makes it a possibility, does it not? As I’m typing this up, I decided to Google this. And it seems Florio at PFT had similar thoughts:
The details have yet to be figured out. A 12-team playoff points to an eleven-game tournament, with eight teams competing in a first-round that narrows the field to eight, followed by a round that cuts the field to four, a round that produces two, and the final championship game.

It means that at least two teams will play at least three more games. It also means that two teams can play as many as four more games.

That means, at the most obvious level, more chances for players to get injured, as they are just about to finally move to a level of football for which they are directly paid for the efforts, abilities, and sacrifices.

Beyond the obvious question of enhanced injury risk, the extra games will shrink the amount of time that players have to prepare for the Scouting Combine and other pre-draft activities. The NFL at some point may have to delay the annual gathering of incoming players to account for that fact.
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Snake
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Re: Sitting out the new CFB playoff

Post by Snake »

And, this may be sacrilege, but I’m a little surprised more guys don’t sit out entire seasons when their value is well-established. E.g. Trevor Lawrence had not much to gain and a lot to lose by playing his final season.
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Cheb
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Re: Sitting out the new CFB playoff

Post by Cheb »

Sitting out a "pointless" bowl game is fine. No one wins any real trophies, no real champions are crowned. No one wants to be the next Jake Butt.

Besides having a Hall of Fame football name, Butt was a legit player in college at Michigan. He had size, he had speed, he had production, and he could block his ass off. He was a first team All-Big Ten tight end at Michigan both his junior and senior years, and won the Mackey award as the best tight end in the nation as a senior. He was a first team All-American by some media outlets. Butt was projected to be a second round pick in his draft class, his future bright and rosy as a solid Kyle-Rudolphian middle-tier starter with a ten year career.... but he tears his ACL in the Orange bowl before the draft and his stock plummets to the fifth round. He tears an ACL again the next season, then tears his hammy the following season. He spent more time in the training room than he ever did on the field and retired last season at the ancient age of 26, a far cry from the player he was projected to be. I'll bet you that Jake Butt would be the first to recommend players not play in pointless bowl games.

That said, the stakes change when playing for a championship. I don't know of anyone who has benched themselves in preparation for the draft during the past few years of the college football playoffs. I expect that trend to continue. If anything, putting up great film against top competition and winning an NCAA championship would be an enviable prize for most prospects.

And in war rooms across the country, I am sure that it would be an easy decision to make between two players who had equivocal careers; one of them benched himself for the playoffs for fear of getting hurt, the other balled out and powered his team to a Natty. The latter player is getting drafted over the former 10 times out of 10.
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Terry Tate
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Re: Sitting out the new CFB playoff

Post by Terry Tate »

Cheb wrote: Fri Sep 09, 2022 11:12 am Sitting out a "pointless" bowl game is fine. No one wins any real trophies, no real champions are crowned. No one wants to be the next Jake Butt.

Besides having a Hall of Fame football name, Butt was a legit player in college at Michigan. He had size, he had speed, he had production, and he could block his ass off. He was a first team All-Big Ten tight end at Michigan both his junior and senior years, and won the Mackey award as the best tight end in the nation as a senior. He was a first team All-American by some media outlets. Butt was projected to be a second round pick in his draft class, his future bright and rosy as a solid Kyle-Rudolphian middle-tier starter with a ten year career.... but he tears his ACL in the Orange bowl before the draft and his stock plummets to the fifth round. He tears an ACL again the next season, then tears his hammy the following season. He spent more time in the training room than he ever did on the field and retired last season at the ancient age of 26, a far cry from the player he was projected to be. I'll bet you that Jake Butt would be the first to recommend players not play in pointless bowl games.

That said, the stakes change when playing for a championship. I don't know of anyone who has benched themselves in preparation for the draft during the past few years of the college football playoffs. I expect that trend to continue. If anything, putting up great film against top competition and winning an NCAA championship would be an enviable prize for most prospects.

And in war rooms across the country, I am sure that it would be an easy decision to make between two players who had equivocal careers; one of them benched himself for the playoffs for fear of getting hurt, the other balled out and powered his team to a Natty. The latter player is getting drafted over the former 10 times out of 10.
To be honest, I am not sure being the second guy drafted at your position is a bad thing. if you go in the top 10, you could end up playing for the Jets or be like Trevor Lawrence, losing a year to the Urban Meyer experiment and even once he's gone, you are still playing for the Jaguars. Meanwhile, the other guy last to the end of the first and gets drafted by New England, KC or us.
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Kress
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Re: Sitting out the new CFB playoff

Post by Kress »

Terry Tate wrote: Sat Sep 10, 2022 12:55 am
Cheb wrote: Fri Sep 09, 2022 11:12 am Sitting out a "pointless" bowl game is fine. No one wins any real trophies, no real champions are crowned. No one wants to be the next Jake Butt.

Besides having a Hall of Fame football name, Butt was a legit player in college at Michigan. He had size, he had speed, he had production, and he could block his ass off. He was a first team All-Big Ten tight end at Michigan both his junior and senior years, and won the Mackey award as the best tight end in the nation as a senior. He was a first team All-American by some media outlets. Butt was projected to be a second round pick in his draft class, his future bright and rosy as a solid Kyle-Rudolphian middle-tier starter with a ten year career.... but he tears his ACL in the Orange bowl before the draft and his stock plummets to the fifth round. He tears an ACL again the next season, then tears his hammy the following season. He spent more time in the training room than he ever did on the field and retired last season at the ancient age of 26, a far cry from the player he was projected to be. I'll bet you that Jake Butt would be the first to recommend players not play in pointless bowl games.

That said, the stakes change when playing for a championship. I don't know of anyone who has benched themselves in preparation for the draft during the past few years of the college football playoffs. I expect that trend to continue. If anything, putting up great film against top competition and winning an NCAA championship would be an enviable prize for most prospects.

And in war rooms across the country, I am sure that it would be an easy decision to make between two players who had equivocal careers; one of them benched himself for the playoffs for fear of getting hurt, the other balled out and powered his team to a Natty. The latter player is getting drafted over the former 10 times out of 10.
To be honest, I am not sure being the second guy drafted at your position is a bad thing. if you go in the top 10, you could end up playing for the Jets or be like Trevor Lawrence, losing a year to the Urban Meyer experiment and even once he's gone, you are still playing for the Jaguars. Meanwhile, the other guy last to the end of the first and gets drafted by New England, KC or us.

That has always been a bummer. The first pick is almost always the #1 quarterback, and he gets shoved into a hopeless situation with the expectation that he will single-handedly fix it. Of course he can't, because there are 21 other guys out there screwing it up (and in TL's case, a coach screwing up the rest of the screwing up). Then the #4 quarterback gets picked at 20 something, so he goes to go to a loaded roster with the expectation that he will just play well enough to Dilfer that roster to a Super Bowl, and he realistically might just do that.
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