McCaffrey, Fournette have done plenty for their schools
Now, they need to focus on themselves
Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey is skipping his team’s bowl game to begin prepping for the NFL draft. Maybe you’ve heard.
And maybe have a negative opinion. Because, at first glance, leaving when there’s still a game on the schedule contradicts most of what you’ve been taught about being part of a team.
Or maybe you applaud what McCaffrey is doing because you recognize he’s a running back, the most dangerous position on the field. And he has been dealing with injuries all season. And that it’s not unreasonable to assume he could get seriously injured in the Sun Bowl, when the Cardinal takes on North Carolina in El Paso, and cost himself millions of dollars this spring.
McCaffrey, by the way, isn’t the only player who is skipping his team’s bowl game this winter. LSU’s Leonard Fournette is, too. He also is a running back. He also is fighting minor injuries.
Now, two players do not make a trend. But some trends are easier to spot than others, and this sure feels like the beginning of something. At its heart is the essential American question: How do we weigh the good of the individual against the good of the whole?
The truth is college football — at least at the top-tier programs — is financial exploitation at this point. There is too much money to suggest otherwise.
One of the ways we justify this uneasy relationship between student-athlete and academic institution is by highlighting the “student” part of the bargain. Another way is to buy into gauzy narratives about “team” and “loyalty” and a lifetime of unadulterated camaraderie.
Yes, these things have real meaning, which makes it hard for some to fathom that McCaffrey could leave his team so abruptly. But the noble pursuit of team won’t guarantee McCaffrey’s financial future. Preparing for the draft could.
McCaffrey and Fournette are betting on themselves. Isn’t that what we want them to do?
Back in the mid-1990s, we faced a similar question when high school seniors began leapfrogging college basketball for the NBA. Kevin Garnett’s jump straight to the NBA draft caused hand-wringing.
For some, it upset the way things always had been. For others, it was a matter of college basketball losing potential stars.
That was selfish on our part. We weren’t thinking about the future of those top-flight kids. We were thinking about our own viewing enjoyment. Just as some of us aren’t thinking about the futures of McCaffrey and Fournette now.
Both Stanford and LSU are playing in bowl games that have nothing to do with the College Football Playoff — LSU is slotted in the Citrus Bowl against Louisville. Nor does either bowl game mean much in terms of recruiting.
LSU isn’t going to sell recruits on a chance to play in the Citrus Bowl. Neither is Stanford going to tell its prospective players that coming to Palo Alto leads to El Paso. The bowl games, do, however, give the teams’ coaching staff an extra month to run practice.
This is invaluable for players who are coming back, something McCaffrey and Fournette obviously had no intention of doing. Playing in a mid-level bowl also is good for the … bowls. Stars help sell tickets and boost ratings.
Yet that’s just more money McCaffrey and Fournette never were going to see. And they most assuredly are thinking about money. They’ve already helped their schools make plenty.
It’s true they were compensated — in part — with scholarships. But come on, that’s a fraction of what their programs earned on the backs of their effort.
If Stanford or LSU were headed to the playoff or even to a New Year’s Six bowl, where reputations actually matter, you can bet they’d be with their teams until the end.
But the Sun Bowl? The Citrus Bowl?
Please. The risk of injury is not worth it.
You might say that both players faced potential injury every time they suited up — whether in practice or on Saturdays in the fall. And that’s true. Yet if the goal of college is to prepare us for the slice of the world we seek, well, consider them prepared.
McCaffrey leaves Stanford as one the most productive and decorated players in school history. He helped the team win and keep its national profile. Now it’s time for him to get true market value for all that service.
That’s the message of our times, right?
Let the free market be free. Let us try to balance the good of the individual against the good of society. It’s the question that hangs over nearly every aspect of our public lives, and a good deal of our private lives, too.
Why should college football be exempt?