The decisions to sit out their team’s respective bowl games made by Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey had little impact on either’s draft stock as both were selected in the Top 10 Thursday night. Jake Butt‘s decision to play in his ended up costing him dearly, although he will see a (wee) bit of a financial cushion softening the blow.
Butt suffered a torn ACL in Michigan’s Orange Bowl loss to Florida State late last year. At the time, Butt was considered one of the top tight end prospects for the 2017 NFL draft, with most experts considering him, at worst, a second-round selection. Most, though, had him ticketed as a first-round pick in a deep class at the position.
Unfortunately, Butt saw his draft stock plummet because of the injury, with the talented tight end falling all the way to the fifth round as he was selected with the No. 145 overall pick by the Denver Broncos Saturday afternoon.
The injury and subsequent fall cost Butt millions of dollars. The sliver of a silver lining is that Butt had taken out an insurance policy that will pay him a tax-free sum of $543,000, Darren Rovell of ESPN.com reported.
That said, Butt saw what would’ve been a potential signing bonus in the neighborhood of $4 million drop to just shy of $400,000. Even considering the insurance payout, the injury will have cost Butt, at bare minimum, $3 million.
It could also have significant ramifications for the sport moving forward as, with the recent examples of Butt, Fournette, McCaffrey and even Jaylon Smith (HERE) fresh in their memories, star players could, more than ever, give significant consideration to skipping out on their team’s bowl game -- maybe even a playoff game.