UW Taylor Rapp Declares

Seahawks get this kid!

Lots of people saying he made a business decision to sit out the Rose Bowl, including former NFL players who were on the sidelines. Apparently he was able to play in the Pac 12 champ game through his minor injury just fine. Should we be worried if this sort of thing becomes common even in NY6 bowl games and possibly even in playoffs games in the future?

It should become common.

If you are NFL material, you have no business taking the risk and potentially injuring yourself.

The draft slot issue I could care less about but there are kids that have been injured in bowl games that were never right again. It isn't common, but if you are the 2% or whatever the percentage is - it assuredly sucks. The NCAA does a great job making tons of money on the backs of college kids but the Bowl games make money for literally everyone else but the kids themselves.

They are not being paid enough - they have no obligation to put themselves at risk. Especially at safety, where you collide with another player (*sometimes running toward you at full speed) by running full speed into tackling him.

Rapp did what was best for him. It wasn't as if we would have won with him anyway.

Only a matter of time then before they start sitting out the conference championship games, too...I mean, if the post season is pointless to play in, then logically speaking so is the conference championship game that gets them there. Oh, and the couple games before that too. Shit, just play enough to be seen by NFL scouts and hey you're done. So cool!!!

Players will soon start to sit out of the playoffs as well. Then college football will slowly start to die as it turns into nothing more than a league full of exhibition games played solely for the purpose of giving players practice to try and make it into the NFL.

Everything is about money these days to so many people. Who cares about honoring your commitment to the school, the coaches, and your teammates when it might result in only making 5 million dollars for being drafted instead of 7 million? Even though 5 million dollars is more than enough to set you up for the rest of your life after your playing days are over....

The risk injuring yourself and losing out on Millions is just too much to swallow.

fenderbender123":2jhjpf3t said:

Only a matter of time then before they start sitting out the conference championship games, too...I mean, if the post season is pointless to play in, then logically speaking so is the conference championship game that gets them there. Oh, and the couple games before that too. Shit, just play enough to be seen by NFL scouts and hey you're done. So cool!!!

Players will soon start to sit out of the playoffs as well. Then college football will slowly start to die as it turns into nothing more than a league full of exhibition games played solely for the purpose of giving players practice to try and make it into the NFL.

Everything is about money these days to so many people. Who cares about honoring your commitment to the school, the coaches, and your teammates when it might result in only making 5 million dollars for being drafted instead of 7 million? Even though 5 million dollars is more than enough to set you up for the rest of your life after your playing days are over....

Click to expand...

Earl Thomas has made, what? 55 million?
When asked, he says he needs to take care of his family?
What exactly does that mean? Extended family? Cousins?
His kids? His grand kids? His great grand kids?

Then when I see him driving a Lambo............. I laugh. You want to live like Bill Gates money, AND take care of your "family". Pick one I guess.
Unless you are a complete moron and don't know how to invest $55 MILLION, I don't know what to tell you.

2_0_6":1rw3p89r said:

The risk injuring yourself and losing out on Millions is just too much to swallow.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean....can you elaborate?

fenderbender123":1awcmr9g said:

2_0_6":1awcmr9g said:

The risk injuring yourself and losing out on Millions is just too much to swallow.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean....can you elaborate?

Click to expand...

Is it really too difficult to figure out?

Player A who is projected to be a 1st rounder suits up for his final game (Rose Bowl) and blows out a knee. Think he is still getting picked in the 1st round?

Jaylon Smith tore his ACL-MCL at the Fiesta Bowl in '16 and seems to just now be finally healthy this season. He was rumored to be a top 5 pick, then Dallas reached on him with the 34th overall pick in the 2nd. That's quite a disparity with guaranteed money.

Sit the games out.

ZorntoLargent":38c86mtl said:

fenderbender123":38c86mtl said:

Only a matter of time then before they start sitting out the conference championship games, too...I mean, if the post season is pointless to play in, then logically speaking so is the conference championship game that gets them there. Oh, and the couple games before that too. Shit, just play enough to be seen by NFL scouts and hey you're done. So cool!!!

Players will soon start to sit out of the playoffs as well. Then college football will slowly start to die as it turns into nothing more than a league full of exhibition games played solely for the purpose of giving players practice to try and make it into the NFL.

Everything is about money these days to so many people. Who cares about honoring your commitment to the school, the coaches, and your teammates when it might result in only making 5 million dollars for being drafted instead of 7 million? Even though 5 million dollars is more than enough to set you up for the rest of your life after your playing days are over....

Click to expand...

Earl Thomas has made, what? 55 million?
When asked, he says he needs to take care of his family?
What exactly does that mean? Extended family? Cousins?
His kids? His grand kids? His great grand kids?

Then when I see him driving a Lambo............. I laugh. You want to live like Bill Gates money, AND take care of your "family". Pick one I guess.
Unless you are a complete moron and don't know how to invest $55 MILLION, I don't know what to tell you.

Click to expand...

Yeah that's ridiculous, too. Behavior like this will kill entertainment sports in the long run. Every player should understand that and put it on themselves to do the right thing in the name of the game. I mean, shit, the game is the whole reason they have these opportunities. They should feel like they owe it to the game to do what's best for keeping it entertaining. The behavior is similar to how Hollywood executives want to keep milking these superhero franchises for all they're worth just to make more money now, even though eventually it's going to destroy a lot of franchises and the genre itself. But who cares, right? As long as you get your money now. Society at large in America has a lot of room for improvement in terms of culture and values.

Back to Rapp though....let's take Kevin King for comparison. Dude played with just one arm during the post-season of his senior year. He didn't take himself out of the game, not even when it became unwinnable. Wish more players were like him. What a badass. What a hero. What a good football player. What a good teammate.

2_0_6":302dqa1k said:

fenderbender123":302dqa1k said:

2_0_6":302dqa1k said:

The risk injuring yourself and losing out on Millions is just too much to swallow.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean....can you elaborate?

Click to expand...

Is it really too difficult to figure out?

Player A who is projected to be a 1st rounder suits up for his final game (Rose Bowl) and blows out a knee. Think he is still getting picked in the 1st round?

Jaylon Smith tore his ACL-MCL at the Fiesta Bowl in '16 and seems to just now be finally healthy this season. He was rumored to be a top 5 pick, then Dallas reached on him with the 34th overall pick in the 2nd. That's quite a disparity with guaranteed money.

Sit the games out.

Click to expand...

Well when you use terrible grammar and are very vague, yes your post can be difficult to figure out.

I totally understand why players do this. Do you not understand why this might piss off fans like myself? It screws us over, plain and simple. The people who are the REASON why these kids have a scholarship, receive fame, and can make millions in the NFL is the fans. So players can go ahead and bite the hand that feeds them I suppose if that's the kind of people they are. The long-term results won't be pretty, though. Sad.

fenderbender123":14b9sybp said:

ZorntoLargent":14b9sybp said:

fenderbender123":14b9sybp said:

Only a matter of time then before they start sitting out the conference championship games, too...I mean, if the post season is pointless to play in, then logically speaking so is the conference championship game that gets them there. Oh, and the couple games before that too. Shit, just play enough to be seen by NFL scouts and hey you're done. So cool!!!

Players will soon start to sit out of the playoffs as well. Then college football will slowly start to die as it turns into nothing more than a league full of exhibition games played solely for the purpose of giving players practice to try and make it into the NFL.

Everything is about money these days to so many people. Who cares about honoring your commitment to the school, the coaches, and your teammates when it might result in only making 5 million dollars for being drafted instead of 7 million? Even though 5 million dollars is more than enough to set you up for the rest of your life after your playing days are over....

Click to expand...

Earl Thomas has made, what? 55 million?
When asked, he says he needs to take care of his family?
What exactly does that mean? Extended family? Cousins?
His kids? His grand kids? His great grand kids?

Then when I see him driving a Lambo............. I laugh. You want to live like Bill Gates money, AND take care of your "family". Pick one I guess.
Unless you are a complete moron and don't know how to invest $55 MILLION, I don't know what to tell you.

Click to expand...

Every player should understand that and put it on themselves to do the right thing in the name of the game. They should feel like they owe it to the game to do what's best for keeping it entertaining. .

Click to expand...

My grammar is fine, I didn't know I was required to write run on sentences like yourself to prove my point.

The schools make MILLIONS and MILLIONS off of these kids and they get an education in return. I'm not saying a free education is something to scoff at, but when comparing the two next to each other it sure looks like quite the deal for the universities.

These kids don't owe anyone anything. Get in, play well, get out, and get those dollars.

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't feel like they should feel they need to "owe" it, but rather that they should at least hopefully *want* to do it for the sake of maintaining a good experience for the fans and helping their team mates and coaches win the game.

And if I really wanted to, I could have made that sentence twice as long.

Just for the heck of it, you should look at all the organizations that are NOT the NCAA or the Universities that are making money on the bowl games.

When you get them, (or find a good collection of them), go ahead and add up their revenue - it will be tens of millions of dollars, if not substantially more.

Now, ask yourself, why, everyone associated with these Bowl games is making money hand over fist but the kids getting the 'opportunity' to play in the bowl games are not?

Now ask yourself just how much that player, sitting out for his own safety, owes those organizations you mentioned it. Balance it out by the fact that most of the players sitting out are star players with NFL futures that have already made tons of money for their schools just in merch licensing and crossover sales alone. Those kids not only sell jerseys with their name on it, but they often add a % to fan merch sold because of the wins or great plays they generated throughout the year.

By year end, if anyone owes anyone anything - the schools have more than been repaid vs their contributions.

Okay that's all good and fine. Doesn't really go against what I'm saying though.

TwistedHusky":3inccc7w said:

most of the players sitting out are star players with NFL futures that have already made tons of money for their schools just in merch licensing and crossover sales alone. Those kids not only sell jerseys with their name on it, but they often add a % to fan merch sold because of the wins or great plays they generated throughout the year..

Click to expand...

Exactly

2_0_6":zpeupg5i said:

The risk injuring yourself and losing out on Millions is just too much to swallow.

Click to expand...

I think the interesting question is where the cutoff is. And I have no idea. but if I'm likely to be a 7th rounder? Do I play? What about a 3rd or 4th rounder? At what point do I still need to play to try to elevate my stock?

I don't have a problem with the players doing it, but I think the decision-making process is an interesting one. And why just bowl games? We saw it, sort of, this year with Bosa quitting the team during the season. He was already injured so a little different, but still . . . if I'm on, say a 7-5 team (or whatever), does it really benefit me to play the last week of the season?

I think that if a player sits he should have to pay back his scholarship and investment by the school. Yes the Schools make millions but they also invest millions into their programs.

So player a leaves after his junior year, he has a full ride and also depends on how the conference counts scholarships now handicaps the school for the next year. He sits but doesn't get drafted but hires a agent, owes a big time school 4 years of scholarships and housing etc costs. The school was going to have a ad campaign around this guy for the next recruiting class as well. The kid gets a bill for 3 million dollars from the school.


Kid got everything handed to him but bites the hand that feeds him when he could pay off the best for the school, are we suppose to feel sorry for him?


Do this a few times and maybe they start second guessing things and these so called experts that rate where kids will go may lose their market.

HawkGA":ryh63bqm said:

2_0_6":ryh63bqm said:

The risk injuring yourself and losing out on Millions is just too much to swallow.

Click to expand...

I think the interesting question is where the cutoff is. And I have no idea. but if I'm likely to be a 7th rounder? Do I play? What about a 3rd or 4th rounder? At what point do I still need to play to try to elevate my stock?

I don't have a problem with the players doing it, but I think the decision-making process is an interesting one. And why just bowl games? We saw it, sort of, this year with Bosa quitting the team during the season. He was already injured so a little different, but still . . . if I'm on, say a 7-5 team (or whatever), does it really benefit me to play the last week of the season?

Click to expand...

If I was a player and I knew it was highly possible I would not be drafted, then absolutely I would play in any bowl game. You need to get s many eyeballs on you and get your name on as many scouts note pads you can. At that point, you can only go up from there.

Now if I was a sure fire top 5 pick, then why risk it? I would not sit out of the national championship game, but I would have no issue with sitting out of a game with no Championship ramifications.

All of these kids come from different backgrounds, some come from wealth, some a piss broke. Everyone has different priorities and needs.

Paying back the scholarship is an interesting idea. Kind of similar to how some Academy folks can get out of their commitment but they have to pay the government a crap-ton of money. I have a hard time, though, feeling too badly for the schools considering how much money is made off of these kids to begin with. Maybe have ESPN payback the scholarship money.

fenderbender123":3fa7cxk3 said:

Lots of people saying he made a business decision to sit out the Rose Bowl, including former NFL players who were on the sidelines. Apparently he was able to play in the Pac 12 champ game through his minor injury just fine. Should we be worried if this sort of thing becomes common even in NY6 bowl games and possibly even in playoffs games in the future?

Click to expand...

I was at the game, my older son knows some of these UW players that he went to camps and all-star games with. When Rapp told reporters at the game he hadn't made a decision he wasn't being honest, he had already made his decision and we had heard from both players and a key Husky player's parents whom are family friends of ours. I didn't want to say anything when we first flew back because I didn't want to add to rumors. Now it seems that it is common knowledge. It was said that he had an injury but was well enough to play but didn't want to exacerbate the injury before the combine or pro day. We were sitting near these parents during the game and we talked about how disappointed we were with him when Byron Murphy who had more to lose chose to play. I don't want to say that it cost us the game but at least two of those TD's were in his spot.

I get it if you are a top-10 choice or are playing a position that is particularly exposed to injury like QB or RB but a safety delivers more blows than they receive.

Disappointed in him.