2017 NFL draft shows skipping bowls doesn’t matter, but getting injured in one does

The 2017 NFL Draft continued from Philadelphia on Saturday, and overall, we’re learning a little about how the NFL teams drafting college players view bowl games.

It would appear as though skipping bowl games really doesn’t matter much to NFL executives and GMs. After getting criticized by some for not playing in their bowl games, injured running backs Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey both were selected in the top 10 of the first round. Fournette skipped LSU’s Citrus Bowl win against Louisville, and McCaffrey opted to sit out of Stanford’s Sun Bowl win.

On the other hand, it seems that NFL teams do care if you get injured while playing bowl games. That was made evident on Saturday, as Michigan tight end Jake Butt had to wait until the No. 145 overall pick with the Denver Broncos in the fifth round. Butt tore his ACL in the Orange Bowl against Florida State, which surely affected his stock, as Dan Kadar pointed out in his pre-draft tight end rankings.

Had he not tore his ACL in the Orange Bowl at the end of the season, Butt would be potentially the second or third tight end in these rankings. He had to sit out the combine and Senior Bowl while a player like Howard dominated both events. Because of his knee injury Butt may not make an immediate impact in 2017.

Albert Breer of The MMQB further quantified how the injury affected where he was drafted.

Luckily for Butt, he had an insurance policy that compensated him.

Butt lost money for every pick that went by without him going off the board. But he’s got an insurance policy that will reportedly pay him handsomely for his troubles.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported that Butt has up to a $2 million “loss-of-value” policy to compensate him for falling down draft boards. The policy took effect in the middle of the third round and pays out $10,000 for every non-Butt pick, Rovell said.

Policies of this nature are common, and they often lead to legal challenges when players go to collect. It’s not clear how much Butt will actually collect, or what specific rules might come into play. But if Butt turns out to get $10,000 per pick from the middle of the third round onward (a total of 60 picks), he’d get $600,000.

Former Notre Dame cornerback Jaylon Smith had a similar policy after his ACL and LCL tear in the Fiesta Bowl cost him from being an early first-round pick.

The injury greatly affected his draft stock. Instead of having his name called within the first hour of the NFL Draft, he fell to the second day, and was taken at No. 34 overall by the Dallas Cowboys.

Smith ended up signing a four-year deal with the Cowboys, one with a $2.9 million signing bonus that is worth roughly $6.1 million. It’s still a solid amount of money, but had he been taken, say, third, his contract in total would be close to $26 million, per Pro Football Talk. Smith was fortunate enough to get insurance money, which will pay $900,000. All in all, this money is nowhere near what he would’ve made if he would’ve sat out of the Fiesta Bowl.

Bowl games will continue to be a topic of conversation ahead of the NFL draft, especially after this year. Where McCaffrey, Fournette, and Butt ended up all will contribute to that narrative.