NFLPA head applauds Fournette, McCaffrey for opting to skip bowl games

Many in the football community have weighed in on the hot topic of college players skipping bowl games with an eye on their professional futures. While LSU's Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey of Stanford have drawn both praise and criticism for choosing to skip the final game of their college careers, NFLPA president Eric Winston lauds them for what he sees as a sensible choice.

"This is really the first professional financial decision they have to make. It's whether to risk what they have to play in the bowl game," Winston, a veteran tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals, told Albert Breer of The MMQB.

"Take Leonard Fournette, because he's a consensus top-five pick. You can put a value on that. You say this is what the second pick of the draft is, this is what the seventh pick of the draft is. And what is the upside of going and playing in the bowl game? It might be a lot. It might be none."

The two college running backs made individual decisions to protect their stock, having both announced they'll be entering the 2017 NFL Draft. It's a move that may spark a flood of collegiate players to do the same.

"I don't say, 'This guy's right or this guy is wrong.' I applaud them for standing up and making a decision, just like I applaud (Texas A&M defensive lineman Myles Garrett) who sounds like he's gonna be a top-five pick and says, 'Hey, I wanna play.' There's no right or wrong answer. I applaud both of them," Winston said.

Winston owns a unique perspective on the subject, not only as head of the players association but as a witness to a college star suffering a major injury on the eve of their draft. He played with Willis McGahee at the University of Miami when the running back tore his ACL and MCL in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl.

"I was thinking, 'All right, get up like usual, Willis,' and he didn't get up," he said. "I was heartbroken."