Draft Dodgers — Mariota and Winston to Skip NFL Draft

Noah Smith FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

While many NFL Draft prospects will be sitting in Chicago waiting to hear Commissioner Roger Goodell, call their name, the Draft’s top-2 QBs will be sitting at home. While Jameis Winston had been alluding to not attending it for a while now, it was just recently that Oregon’s own Marcus Mariota, said he will not be attending  either.

Most players tend to enjoy all the pomp and limelight of attending the NFL Draft, but Mariota said that he would prefer to be at home in Hawaii with his family.10941876_942392569104613_7448014683318184803_nESPN’s resident NFL insider, Adam Schefter, first reported that Mariota found it culturally important for him to celebrate the Draft at home with his family, rather than in Chicago. While no one can fault him for his choice to stay home, many are wondering about how this reflects on the NFL.

Despite likely being a top 10 pick, Mariota will no be attending the NFL Draft

Likely to be a top-10 pick, Mariota will not be attending the NFL Draft.

The NFL has always marketed the first round of the Draft as a Prime Time event that everyone should watch. So, one can’t help but wonder if their absence is just the beginning of the end for it. If the top-2 QB prospects are not going to attend the Draft this year, then who’s to say that it won’t become more common for top prospects to skip the Draft in years to follow?

As conspiracy theories go, it’s not far fetched to think that two of the top prospects skipping the event could lead to more highly-visible prospects skipping it as well – potentially undercutting attempts to make it a must-see event. But the thing is, everyone who is saying that this will affect the Draft are missing the important part of the story; Mariota and Winston are not boycotting the Draft.

Mariot watching the draft from Hawaii is not an attempt at discrediting the NFL Draft.

Mariota watching the Draft from Hawaii is not an attempt to discredit the NFL.

Mariota’s motivation for not attending has nothing to do with a desire to topple the NFL Draft or undercut Goodell. He simply wants to sit at home with his family and be comfortable, rather than sit in a hall in Chicago, wearing a suit and pretending to be surprised when he is drafted.

Also, I’d bet that if Winston was asked about his motivation, it would be very similar to Mariota’s. In the end, the ”importance” of the Draft may be undercut by these “draft dodgers,” and if it is, then it is merely a side effect of the action and not the intention of these players.

Top Photo by Amazing Moments

 

New 2024 FishDuck Publishing Schedule….

During the off-season the FishDuck.com publishing schedule will consist of articles on Mondays and Tuesdays. Do keep checking as new articles could be published during the week when a writer has something to say.

In mid-August of 2024, we will go back to the seven-days-a-week of articles during the football season as we did in the football season of 2023.

The Our Beloved Ducks Forum (OBD) is where we we discuss the article above and many more topics, as it is so much easier in a message board format over there.  At the free OBD forum we will be posting Oregon Sports article links, the daily Press Releases from the Athletic Department and the news coming out every day.

Our 33 rules at the free OBD Forum can be summarized to this: 1) be polite and respectful, 2) do not tell anyone what to think, feel or write, and 3) no reference of any kind to politics. Easy-peasy!

OBD Forum members….we got your back.  No Trolls Allowed!