SI article on opt-outs featuring Rousseau

You guys ever stopped to think that the so-called experts are talking down on Gregory simply because he’s a Cane? Can't give the Canes too much attention / exposure with TWO first round picks at the same position?
 
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What I never understood is why it was thought to be safer away from the team and it's safety protocols in comparison to signing with an agent an being on your own in different cities training around people who's not constantly being tested?

I think Covid was used as an excuse to save his draft stock and get some quick money. He quit, signed with an agent and bought his mother a house or whatever. Every kids dream is to be able to take care of their family so I get it but just be honest about it. I wish there was data to compare the efficacy of transmission over the past season as a football athlete compared to a normal citizen.
You do realize that we like other teams struggled with COVId right? It wasn’t a walk in the park
 
What the heck are you talking about combine numbers didn’t help him? He ran a 1.57 10 yard split and a 4.7 at his size. He’s elite.
Less than a year of tape. Disappointing at Pro Days, and nothing to improve after sitting out.
That's what I am talking about. Questions from NFL make sense.
Get real and stop talking elite.
He is good, not elite by those numbers. Wake up, and face numbers reality.
 
Less than a year of tape. Disappointing at Pro Days, and nothing to improve after sitting out.
That's what I am talking about. Questions from NFL make sense.
Get real and stop talking elite.
He is good, not elite by those numbers. Wake up, and face numbers reality.
Cmon bro! The kid did what was best for him. Of course we're gonna say it was foolish for Greg to opt out because he didn't stick around to help the team, which is all the average selfish fan cares about. Not a shot at you by the way...
 
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He's still gonna make a boatload of money regardless. Not a personal shot at you but as fans we get a little selfish and put the team over everything and everybody.
It’s stupid and shortsighted because he could have made way more by not quitting after playing 8 games as a collegian.
 
But but Covid.....

J/P lol I’m happy for Greg. Hope he balls wherever he goes!
Why can't everyone be a true fan like you and simply wish the guy well instead of bashing him because he didn't stick around to help elevate our season and bragging rights ? Tired of guys pretending to be concerned about his draft stock when you know you wanted the kid to stay simply to help the team. Had he came back and got injured ( thank God he didn't ) the first thing everyone would've said was " Tough break, " feel sorry for the kid..." probably should have turned pro" lol
 
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It’s stupid and shortsighted because he could have made way more by not quitting after playing 8 games as a collegian.
Why you counting this man's money? It's his problem, not yours, and it's a good problem to have, especially after one season of work. Just admit you're ****ed because he didn't stay to help your favorite team, and stop pretending to be concerned about his livelihood. Man up homie! 15-0!
 
At the time I thought it was a terrible business decision. I figured with another season of double digit sacks he'd be a lock in the top 5. However, because of the glut of QBs, even an elite prospect like Sewell is projected to be the #9 pick, which in most years would be absurd given his talent. If Sewell drops to #9, then Rosseau would likely be in the #12-19 neighborhood even with double digit sacks, which is basically where he is now.
So it doesn't look like it hurt or helped him. Pretty much a wash.

In terms of the team record if he'd played? Wouldn't have the difference against Clemson or UNC. Maybe he has an impact against OSU, but there is a good chance he'd have sat out the bowl game as a lot of top draft picks do (maybe not if the Orange Bowl, but no one cares about the Toilet Bowl). So team record would have been the same as well.

Long story short, Rosseau sitting out didn't change much for himself or the team.
 
Did you not see how many of our players/coaches got COVID?

Yup and the one thing I agree with is that he would be ******** to elbows with people daily here while away from the team, his bubble is much smaller. It's more controllable who you come into contact with. No way 85 people and staffers that close, all living different lives outside of training and work, weren't going to get it. Off the team, he's just got a few trainers to worry about and whatever other places he put himself in. Testing doesn't change behavior and no way 85 college kids were going to choose social distancing as they should.

I didn't like the move then and I don't like it now. It's his life and I'll respect that, so it is what it is.
 
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WITHOUT A DOUBT!!

Because we ALL know how much it bothers you whenever you're asked that question by VICE at church or at work 😡


Are you mentally disturbed?

The "mother" question is a very well-known question that was asked by an NFL team exec at an interview with a first-round draft prospect.

Grow up.
 
Looks like Greg is one of 10 players who have confirmed they will attend the draft in cleveland. Others who have confirmed include Patrick Surtain, DeVonta Smith, Mac Jones, Christian Barmore and Trey Lance, Kyle Pitts, Micah Parsons, Caleb Farley and Ja'Marr Chase
Sounds like a great place to catch covid from kids that played this year.
 
Less than a year of tape. Disappointing at Pro Days, and nothing to improve after sitting out.
That's what I am talking about. Questions from NFL make sense.
Get real and stop talking elite.
He is good, not elite by those numbers. Wake up, and face numbers reality.
His pro day numbers were great. That was my comment combating yours saying he wasn’t good at the pro day. You’re flat out wrong.
IMO he’s the best defensive player in the draft. IDGAF what anyone says. I know football pretty **** well playing and watching for 40 years. I especially know elite players when I see them. I remember throwing my remote and cracking my TV screen when the Jaguars traded up to get Derrick Harvey and again to get another DE from Virginia when Calais Campbell was sitting there. It’s the little things that matter too. Not just pro days. How about the fact that Calais threw his hands up in between every play to get the crowd loud. Rousseau has that type of energy and it’s contagious. Rousseau is special.
 
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When was the last time we had a worldwide pandemic?

NFL teams may decide that they rather someone who did play and I understand that and your point about the risk there, but certainly there is more to consider in regards to sitting out a season compared to previous years.
2018, but we didn't know about it...
 
You do realize that we like other teams struggled with COVId right? It wasn’t a walk in the park
Define struggled?

Blades had an issue that even doctors will tell you could have been the result of aftereffects from any virus. Other than Al what was the struggle? People tested positive? Is that a struggle? People were isolated due to contact tracing who may or may not have tested positive? Is that a struggle?

I hope the jets take Greg #2. I’m a big fan of his on and off the field and I predict he will be a good pro or better

but the opting out stuff was BS from the jump. There was never a time where the numbers showed people under 60 were in danger. Hopefully sooner than later people cut the crap and just look at the facts so we can all get on with our lives.
 

So far Gregory Rousseau has interviewed with more than 20 NFL teams in the lead-up to this month’s draft, and so far each video call has followed a similar line of inquiry. “Just different voices every time,” the former Miami Hurricanes defensive end says, “but it’s the same stuff.”

First the team officials on his Zoom screen start with small talk, lobbing softballs about his football background. “Like, ‘Walk me through your high school, walk me through getting recruited to Miami,’ ” says Rousseau, 21, a Coconut Creek, Fla., native whose 15.5 sacks as a sophomore in 2019 ranked second nationwide. Then the officials scooch closer to their cameras and someone segues with an ominous Soo . . . Rousseau knows what is next. “They always ask why I opted out,” he says. “It’s like clockwork.”...

...A similar attitude flooded Rousseau’s DMs after he announced that he would forgo his junior year with the Hurricanes. Members of the program had cheered him on—“My teammates all told me, “Go train hard, chase your dreams, make sure you get paid!”—but some diehards were less sympathetic. “Obviously fans were mad,” Rousseau says. “I got a lot of hate on Twitter, telling me I’m a quitter, a sellout, that stuff.” The barbs stung at first, but Rousseau got used to them. “I saw it from their point of view, like ‘****, this dude opted out; he quit on the team,’ ” Rousseau says. “They’re feeling hurt by that. I understand it. It’s not personal.”
Newbie........Sport Illustrated is blasphemy on CIS
 
This argument of “at the time” is comical and revisionist history at best, lying at worst. We knew the mortality rates of the virus in young people by august. We new it was a minimal risk of death or hospitalization at 22 peak condition. Sorry, the facts were there. He chose to ignore them and used it as a cop out cuz he didn’t want to play for free. His excuse was his mother was a frontline covid nurse... who he was going to be in close contact with regularly and be infinitely more exposed than on the field. It never made sense outside of he didn’t want to play for free. His risk of losing stock by playing and missing multiple games because of a positive tests was way smaller than skipping the season with only 14 games of tape.
 
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