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Silverman: Fournette, McCaffrey Exercise Their Options In College Football's Changing Landscape

By Steve Silverman
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Leonard Fournette of Louisiana State and Christian McCaffrey of Stanford have decided to put their own interests ahead of their respective teams and are sitting out their bowl games during this holiday season.

The Citrus Bowl will have to survive Fournette's absence when LSU takes on Louisville on New Year's Eve in Orlando, Florida. The Sun Bowl, in El Paso, Texas, features Stanford and North Carolina on Dec. 30.

Fournette and McCaffrey have NFL careers to think about, and they don't want to risk suffering an injury before they head into draft season. Once the college season is over, the top draft-eligible players will sell themselves to the NFL by going through individual workouts, going to the Indianapolis Combine and subjecting themselves to thorough medical examinations and exacting interviews.

Sitting out a bowl game makes a large amount of sense, especially when you consider the recent case of former Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith, who suffered a brutal ACL/LCL injury that included nerve damage in last year's Fiesta Bowl.

Smith likely would have been a top-five draft pick, but instead he was selected by the Dallas Cowboys with the 34th pick. He has not played this year during the Cowboys' memorable season, and he won't play again until next year – if his nerve problem returns to normal.

Fournette has missed four games this season, including the Tigers' last game at Texas A&M, with a lingering ankle injury. McCaffrey missed the Cardinal's Oct. 15 game at Notre Dame with an undisclosed injury, although he appears healthy now.

Smith and Cowboys rookie Ezekiel Elliott don't condone skipping bowl games. Smith said that if he had it to do all over again, he would suit up for Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl and look at the game as an opportunity to play – and not worry about a potential injury.

Elliott has a chance of winning both Rookie of the Year and MVP honors – although teammate Dak Prescott could interfere with both of those plans. Despite his success as a running back for the Cowboys, the idea of playing one last game for Ohio State appeals to him.

Fournette and McCaffrey leaving their teams in the lurch at bowl time is not unprecedented. While we don't remember players who opted to sit out while publicizing their NFL draft status as the reason, there are countless coaches who have left their teams prior to bowl games in order to take better or higher-paying jobs with new schools.

College football fans and observers are aghast when that happens, but that is clearly the way college football operates. Leaving any later would foul up recruiting and lessen the impact of a big hire. It doesn't make it right, but that's the way the college football coaching business works.

Fournette and McCaffrey are clearly thinking of themselves ahead of their teammates and coaches. It may be a byproduct of the current bowl championship setup, and it never would have happened years ago.

Christian McCaffrey
Stanford's Christian McCaffrey scores a touchdown against USC on Sept. 17, 2016, at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

If LSU or Stanford had been playing in either of the two college football playoff semifinal games, I believe Fournette and McCaffrey would have played. Those games are vital, with a championship appearance as the potential outcome. Even cash-driven players want a championship ring.

The rest of the bowl season is window dressing, designed for college football fans (bettors) to have additional opportunities to watch (bet on) their favorite teams.

In previous generations, college football players would never have sat out bowl games for the same reason that Fournette and McCaffrey are taking a pass. NFL scouts used to look at the way a player or a coach prepared for a bowl game and would draw conclusions about how those individuals would do at the next level when they prepared for a playoff game.

I regularly spoke with NFL scouts who explained that college teams would regularly use the extra time between the end of the college football regular season and the bowl game to study their opponent and come up with an appropriate game plan.

Typically, coaches and players would put more time into getting ready for a bowl game than they would a regular-season opponent.

Players who prepared well and then performed at a higher level in a bowl game would get graded accordingly, and their draft status would improve.

That's no longer the case. The most important championship bowl games represent an opportunity for players and coaches to raise their status and win championships, but the other bowl games – Poinsettia, Dollar General, Heart of Dallas and, yes, the Pinstripe – are just exercises and betting opportunities.

Fournette and McCaffrey are not heroes. They are merely future businessmen exercising their options.

Follow Steve on Twitter at @ProFootballBoy

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