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College football players at big-time programs are not compensated for their talents, even though they generate millions of dollars for their schools. They do, however, get a free education out of the deal. But unlike, say, a brilliant computer science student who leaves school early for a six-figure job in Silicon Valley, college stars destined for NFL greatness are not afforded that same benefit.

Specifically: Yes, these players can leave school anytime after their junior season, but if they chose to skip out on their final bowl game -- where, again, they are not compensated, and the risk of injury, in their minds anyway, far outweighs suiting up one final time -- the conversation is suddenly about how these players are selfish quitters.

On Thursday, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who coached USC from 2001-09, weighed in on the matter.

"I understand why guys do that and I understand that there is a bit of a trend here that I'm seeing," Carroll told reporters, via Pro Football Talk. "I don't really like it, I would like guys to play for their teams and battle for their teams and finish up and finish things. I understand why a guy maybe makes a choice to secure his future more so or be safer or whatever, but I don't agree with it.

"I wouldn't want my players to do it if I was coaching in college. College coaches can't say that maybe, but I can, and they should finish their year with their teams if they could. I see a little bit of something, you look in the Pro Bowl too and some guys choose not to play in the Pro Bowl now. I think that's somewhat of a trend there. I don't think you can talk against someone taking the path of, I'm going to look after myself and put myself in the best position for the future and all that. I like doing what's right there in front of us and staying with the people that brought me and work with them and all that and honoring the games that they have, the matchups. It will be interesting to see if those guys were in the finals if they [would have] played."

Ask the Bengals if they'd want one of Andy Dalton's favorite targets, tight end Tyler Eifert, to play in another Pro Bowl. Eifert was in Hawaii in January 2016 when he suffered an ankle injury that required surgery, and it forced him to miss the first six weeks of the 2016 season.

"It was one of the best experiences I've ever had," Eifert said of the Pro Bowl. "But it's just not worth it."

Also worth noting: College coaches were abandoning their teams before bowl games (for -- get this -- better jobs!) long before players were.

But it's not just coaches like Carroll who are critics of the idea. Cowboys rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott -- who, it turns out, left school early -- also thinks players should stick it out till the very end of the season (just not their senior season, especially if it doesn't make financial sense).


Plot twist: Do you know who Elliott faced in the final bowl game of his college career at Ohio State? Notre Dame's Jaylon Smith, who shredded his knee in that meaningless get-together and lost millions in the process. A top-five talent, Smith fell to the second round where he was drafted by the Cowboys. He hasn't seen the field once since the injury.

Somehow, none of this occurred to Elliott.


Our colleague Will Brinson writes that there are no easy answers here. But there are.

The easiest: Pay these athletes. Problem solved.

And Brinson gets around to this point: "Nothing is worse than someone losing out on a financial windfall because he suffered an injury trying to make some money for other people."

But this isn't a problem for the coaches or their programs; they've already made their money off the player the last three or four seasons. Healthy or otherwise, his college career was ending after that bowl game.

Which is to say: We see no issue with a player's decision to support his family for the foreseeable future over taking part in one final game that will make money for everybody but those wearing pads.