Penn State RB Saquon Barkley hints at skipping bowl game

Bowl games are becoming a business decision for top NFL draft prospects, and Penn State’s Saquon Barkley is not immune.

LSU’s Leonard Fournette and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey both skipped their bowl game last season, with an eye on the NFL and not risking injury. Criticism came, but the move was validated by each guy being a top-10 pick last week. The case of Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith, who suffered a substantial knee injury in is final college game and fell from a potential top-5 pick in 2016 to the second round, has made it a budding trend for top NFL prospects who are healthy to sit out their bowl.

Now that drafting running backs in the first round is cool again, Penn State’s Saquon Barkley is in line to be a top-10 pick in 2018. Coming off a breakout sophomore season, where he finished second in the Big Ten and 14th in the country with 1,496 rushing yards while adding 18 touchdowns on the ground, a severe injury during his junior season is probably all that will diminish Barkley’s draft stock significantly.

Pete Thamel of Sports Ilustrated broached the topic of skipping a bowl game with Barkley recently. Amid what Thamel classified as a four-minute answer to the question, Barkley showed how hard the decision will be if it’s on the table.

"I would have a hard time doing it. But I’m not going to sit here and say I would never do it. I don’t know. I could be in a situation next year where I have close to two broken ankles, God forbid, or something going on in my upper body and I can’t play in a game if I’m considering playing in the NFL.”"

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Fournette and McCaffrey’s teams were in non-College Football Playoff bowl games, which is an added layer to the decision to sit out. If Penn State finds its way to the Rose Bowl again next Jan. 1, that game is a playoff semifinal. Anything less than that on the scale of bowl games, and Barkley can’t be blamed if he decides to sit out.