re: What "The Athletic" said about Daniels and Nabors playing in the bowl game.

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Idk man I’d hate for them to get a Marcus Lattimore injury this close to going pro in a meaningless bowl game

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Especially in football, generalities typically don’t work, especially for situations like this. People look at one small sliver of the decision: “Hey, you’re screwing over your team by not playing.” “Hey, you’re sitting out and saving yourself millions of dollars.” That is the surface of this decision.

I tore my ACL in a bowl game. I lost a lot of money by falling in the draft. It didn’t stop there. Since I was injured outside of the NFL, I did not get a credited season my rookie year. I did not get benefits my rookie year. I was not part of league insurance my rookie year. I made split salary, which was a six-figure reduction in my salary.

Those credited seasons count toward your pension. They didn’t give me a 401K match, which is almost $30,000. Your total net loss is going to be probably a quarter-million dollars if you get hurt and are not able to play your rookie season.

For me, I don’t regret playing. I understand there’s a long game in life, and I always knew there was going to be life after football. Yeah, I lost money, but I have a massive respect and love here at the University of Michigan. That is something money can’t buy.

Other people don’t see it that way. There are a lot of guys who play football, and football is all they have. Let them make that decision for themselves.

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