Career ending and altering injuries happen at every level to ever position in football - that's the way the game works. It's fine and dandy that ACL surgery is now more advanced than 10 years ago but it certainly doens't compensate for that risk. And to make your car crash analogy work, the tradeoff would be "Drive your car while going to work for free" vs. "drive your car while going work for $x million". They could have NO lockout, and he would still be making an x million vs. 0 tradeoff. He played for free for a whole year in a career which will only last until he's 35 or so. And you can't even argue that he saved himself some wear and tear, extending his career, longer than it would have been a la Ricky Williams various hiatuses, becuase he spent that year getting a couple of literal tears. Look, I love the whole college game and all that and it's admiriable that these guys are getting degrees and having a good time - good for them, but if you're the number one pick, in a game as fickle as the NFL, it's a pretty indefensible decision from a financial standpoint. And yes, I understand they're insured, but that policy wouldn't begin to cover the actual loss.
i don't think anyone argues that this is a smart financial decision. however, it is not the only factor at play for some of these kids. how is that so hard to understand?
As someone who works in architecture with a degree from a prestigious university I hope for Andrew Luck's sake he is not counting on that. Architecture is in terrible shape right now due to the down economy and speculation during the boom and its not likely to get better for years. Also if Andrew Luck wanted to stick around to bang hot co-eds he should've gone to USC. All that said I admire the guy for his decision but even so I hope Cal makes him pay next year for deciding to stay. <iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FfyHwJXPmrw" frameborder="0"></iframe> GO BEARS!
That there's paragraphs upon pages explaining his decision shows its justifying a stupid one This just shows people would rather slack off and ogle college women than go show up to work. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But its not like an NFL player won't see hot tail all around him while he's in the league. There's the Sam Bradford analogy. But there's also the Tim Tebow one, where he can play all 4 years and be a holy deity of college football. Tebow might be an average to mediocre pro, but he will always be a hero in the hearts of fans for the rest of his life (since he luckily he didn't get injured like Bradford...)
I actually think it shows that some people here just value money and nothing else. Anything that doesn't involve that is apparently the wrong thing to do.
Not the decision I would have made....but I have no problem with him making it. It's his to make. I'm a fan. I hope the Texans go 1-15 and find themselves with the #1 pick next year.
There's no way we go 1-15 next year. But, could try and hit the jackpot with a team you feel has a better shot at landing the top spot next year by trading away Mario Williams or Matt Schaub for a 1st rounder. Might cost you some 2nd rounders also...but I just might do that deal because the kid is that good.
fify to reflect 99% of texans fans in january 2010. with this joke of a front office, i will be surprised by nothing other than a playoff spot.
i wasn't being serious. but never say never with the Houston Texans!!! they manage to seize defeat from the jaws of victory with great skill.
If you guaranteed me that Luck comes out next year, Kubiak AND Rick Smith would be fired and we'd have the number one pick, I'd make the deal with the devil and accept Wade Phillips as the head coach to get this kid.
The difference is that Sam Bradford (and luck) are surefire #1 picks, where Tebow was questionable as a first day draft selection up until the point that Josh McDaniel tried to "think outside the box" (which he later paid for)
Just like life-ending and altering injuries happen every day and night when people get in a car. I'll revise the analogy - by your logic, why ever go out to dinner or a bar? You spend more money than you would staying/eating at home, and you risk your life ending in a car crash. It's because at some point, the odds are low enough that you put those aside in the name of enjoying yourself and making yourself happy. The problem with this logic is that for most of these guys, the vast majority of their career earnings come with the initial contracts. And they know this. There are a few lucky exceptions that become among the league's elite and get Manning-esque deals, but those aren't the majority. The majority make the majority of their earnings off of that contract they sign as a rookie. Moreover, for most of them, the difference in $60m and $70m is negligible - once they get that big initial salary, they're set for both their life and their family's lives. In fact, one could argue it actually helped Bradford financially to wait, because he wouldn't necessarily have been the No. 1 pick had he come out the year before.
This, by itself - is perfectly correct, and I largely agree with it. But that's not what happened to Bradford, if you want to make it fit in hindsight, what he did was go out and eat at a bar and get food poisoning and have a bad time, and pay a million dollars for it, vs. going to a bar and eating with uncertain results and getting paid a million dollars for it. Which of course makes it imperative to get in as many years of it as you can, espcially if there's a work stoppage in the middle of that rookie deal. I'm not arguing diminishing marginal utility of $$$ here -> again you're largely correct, and at the end of the day it's highly subjective. But in purely financial terms it's a no-brainer to get it while you can, rather than to walk around Norman for a year visiting doctors. You could argue that but he was the consensus #1 QB in 2008, prior to deciding to return, just as much as Luck is now, to the extent such prognostications are accurate, as he was considered a better prospect than the eventual no. 1, Stafford. Which he should have been.
Of course, Matthew Stafford got a $42MM guaranteed contract while Bradford got a $50MM guaranteed contract. So as a result of waiting and taking advantage of NFL rookie wage inflation, he pocketed a guaranteed $8MM extra dollars.
