Dallas Cowboys

Injured Cowboys rookie Jaylon Smith on stars skipping bowl games: I'd play again

Published Dec. 20, 2016 11:37 a.m. ET

Cameron DaSilva

Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette made headlines the past few days, when they announced they won’t be playing in their teams’ bowl games. Instead, they’ll focus on the next chapter: the NFL Draft.

It’s hard to blame them – both are battling injuries – for wanting to avoid suffering a career-threatening injury, or simply one that would hurt their draft stock. All they have to do is look at what happened to Jaylon Smith in the Fiesta Bowl last season for a worst-case scenario.

He tore up his knee and saw his stock fall from a top-10 lock to the second round. It not only cost him millions of dollars, but it also prevented him from playing as a rookie. However, if he were to go back in time, he wouldn’t change a thing.

https://twitter.com/thejaylonsmith/status/811041664475217920?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Smith’s current teammate, Ezekiel Elliott, shared his thoughts Monday on the two stars’ decisions to skip their bowl games. Initially, he thought they were wrong before backtracking when he learned they’re dealing with injuries.

It may be shocking to see Smith send a tweet like that, but it’s all part of the game. Every time a player steps on the field, he risks a significant injury, and every player understands that.