@MarkKnudson41
Strike One: The option for athletes to “opt out” of competition this year was created in good faith by pro and college sports leagues concerned about the notion they were forcing players to participate during the pandemic, even if the players felt they would be endangering their health and the health of those around them by participating.
For the most part, the option has been used appropriately by athletes at all levels. But like every other option or guideline, there are those who find a way to abuse it.
The football team at Utah State University found a way to abuse this one.
In the case of college football’s “opt out” option, the 1-5 Aggies found a way to avoid one last trip and perhaps one less loss during the COVID-19 wrecked season that had nothing to do with COVID-19. All the Aggies players truly suffered from were hurt feelings. Is that good enough?
Utah State football players decided to skip their season finale against Colorado State – using the “opting out” option – after contemplating comments reportedly made by university President Noelle Cockett during a Zoom call that they deemed offensive. Cockett reportedly voiced her concerns about the religious and cultural background of interim Head Coach Frank Maile as a reason not to consider him for the full time position.
Nothing was recorded, and it wasn’t until the players – who were strongly in favor of Maile being promoted to the job full time – conducted an informal poll amongst themselves a few days later that they determined that the comments – which Cockett denies were intentionally derogatory – were bad enough that they didn’t want to suit up and play football for Utah State – and Maile – even one more time.
In their statement, the players cited an “ongoing inequality and prejudicial issues between the players, coaches and USU administration” according to Stadium.com. Maile, who is Polynesian and a member of the Mormon faith, has twice been put in charge of the Aggies football program during coaching transitions. The USU alumnus has never been considered for the full time gig.
So we’re left to speculate that the President of a university – in the state of Utah – verbalized negative feelings about hiring a coach partly because he is Mormon. That’s a head scratcher to be sure.
But is it reason enough to skip out on playing a regularly scheduled football game?
In a normal season, opting out would not have been an option for these players, unless they were ready to be penalized. In a normal season, failing to get on the airplane and fly to Colorado to play CSU would constitute a forfeit, plain and simple.
This is not a normal season, and the players knew it.
Are the players wrong to be upset? No, they’re obviously entitled to their feelings, and they should be allowed to protest appropriately. Taking your concerns about your school president’s comment public is totally fair game. The school’s board of trustees will now investigate, which is a good thing.
But skipping out on a large, university and community-wide commitment is not an appropriate form of protest.
Ask yourself this question: If Utah State was 5-1 instead of 1-5…if the Aggies had something like playing for a conference title or a bowl game in front of them, would they have skipped out on playing Colorado State?
That answer is obviously no, regardless of any comments the school president made.
And those who want to compare this to the events of this past August – when NBA and MLB players put a halt to scheduled games in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake – are making the worst of false equivalencies. You simply cannot compare the actual murders of three innocent people, and the social ramifications involved, to the off handed and bad faith comments of a single college administrator. To label these incidents as even being remotely close to the same thing is just as wrong as bailing out on playing the game.
It’s not going to make much difference to the CSU Rams COVID-marred season, but the Mountain West conference should immediately rule this game a forfeit by USU. Shame on these players for taking advantage of the pandemic to avoid playing the final game of a bad season.
Strike Two: Drew Lock just had the best day of his Denver Broncos career. Does that mean he should automatically be the Broncos starting QB in 2021?
If we’re being fair, the jury should still be out on Lock, who has just over one full year (a good deal of it spent on the injured list) of NFL experience. He’s been up and down, shown good flashes – like he did last year against Houston and Sunday against Carolina – and he’s been dreadful, like he was in games earlier this season against Kansas City and Las Vegas. Sometimes, like this season’s game against the LA Chargers, he’s been both on the same Sunday. He may very well be the Broncos QB of the future, and he may turn out to be the best quarterback Denver has ever drafted (the competition for that label is not exactly intense.)
Then again, he might not be the guy to lead Denver back into Super Bowl contention. We just don’t know.
How long are Broncos fans willing to wait to find out? Another full season?
If there are two things that John Elway has proven as an executive, it’s that he can A) draft defensive talent, and B) occasionally recruit and secure a high quality veteran QB. No, not talking about Case Keenum, Joe Flacco or Mark Sanchez. Talking about Peyton Manning.
It’s unlikely that anyone like Peyton Manning will ever hit free agency ever again, but that does not mean Elway couldn’t roll the dice and try to convince an established vet to agree to become a Bronco via a trade. Someone like current Detroit Lion Matthew Stafford, for instance? (The idea isn’t mine. All credit to Ian St. Clair of Mile High Report.)
It would not be as easy as courting Manning. Even in the post-COVID NFL (which we hope is 2021) money is going to be a BIG issue. The Broncos are already looking at having to release superstar defender Von Miller because his salary of $22+ mil is too big of a cap hit next season. Taking on more salary is not really and option…unless it can be balanced by getting rid of some salary, too.
But Denver is also going to have to ante up to keep All-Pro safety Justin Simmons and standout defensive tackle Shelby Harris. Running back Phillip Lindsay needs a raise too. So how can Denver possibly afford to bring in a high priced quarterback on top of that?
Maybe they can’t. In fact, they probably can’t…and won’t. But we can dream.
Stafford wouldn’t come cheap. He has two years left on a mega-contract that will pay him almost $35 mil next season and almost $28 mil in 2022. Gulp.
I’m the farthest thing from a Salary Cap expert, but what if Denver could say goodbye (without taking too big a cap hit) to Miller, Ju’Wann James ($13 mil) and recently suspended AJ Bouye ($12 mil?) They’d save about $47 mil. And depending on whom they traded to the Lions, they might save even more. Would that be enough to bring in Stafford and keep Simmons, Harris and Lindsay?
Detroit isn’t going anywhere with the talented Stafford. What would they have to lose?
This is likely going to be a conversation that happens in the Broncos front office this off season. How serious would it be? It would take a blockbuster kind of trade to be sure. Then again, if Lock plays like he did this past Sunday for the next three weeks, and convinces everyone that he’s ready for the big time now and not later, then maybe all the speculation is for nothing. We’ll see.
Strike Three: It was Senior Day in many college football stadiums this past weekend. The day when programs typically honor those senior players who are playing the final home game of their college careers. It’s a time-honored tradition.
But things are very different in 2020, remember? Every college football player was given an extra year of eligibility, due to the pandemic and the damaging impact it’s had on collegiate sports. This was supposed to be a free year.
So why so many tearful goodbyes?
For instance, if you’re a fan of the Colorado Buffaloes, do you expect to see guys like Nate Landman, K.D. Nixon or Mustafa Johnson back at Folsom Field next season? It’s pretty much their call at the moment. Landman is a mid-level NFL prospect, ranked by one website as the 25th best linebacker prospect for this year’s draft. Johnson is the 15th rated defensive lineman. Both have ample reason to try to turn pro (remember, the XFL will be back in 2021, too.) Nixon toyed with the idea last off season. He’ll probably take a shot at going pro rather than returning for what would presumably be graduate school.
Then there’s a guy like quarterback Sam Noyer, who almost left CU after last season before the coaching staff talked him into returning. He went out and earned the starting QB nod. Would a guy like Noyer, who had success in his only (partial) season under center, but who has already spent what must seem like a lifetime in college, want to come back for more?
That’s what most of the seniors around the country have to weigh right now. When is it time to move on? If pro football is in their future, the time is probably now to take that shot. If it’s not, and graduate school isn’t in the plans either, is it time to go pro in something other than sports?
Are any of us sure what we’d have done given this same choice?
Next season will be far more interesting than this COVID-plagued one. For sure, some of this year’s seniors will come back for another year. They will meet a new incoming class of freshman, too. The locker room will be extra crowded. Some teams will benefit. Others not so much.
This season was more or less a glorified exhibition season with everything that was involved. Next season will feature the biggest roster of scholarship players on any single team since scholarship limits were reduced to 85 for the 1994-95 academic year. Most expect scholarship limits to return to 85 for 2022. That will be interesting, too.