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Two years ago, there was much said and written about the money that had been lost by quarterback Matt Leinart by spending one more year at USC.
Leinart could have been the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft. He was the No. 10 selection in 2006.
Darren Rovell of CNBC points out that, this time around, another USC player might have spent one year too many wearing a Trojan. Helmet.
Last year, offensive tackle Sam Baker was expected to be the second player taken at his position, behind Joe Thomas. The Cardinals took tackle Levi Brown at No. 5. Assuming that Baker would have been the pick instead, and based on the possibility that Baker will be at best a high second-round pick in 2008, Rovell estimates that Baker’s losses will be in the neighborhood of $15 million.
Bottom line? A degree can always be gotten down the road. For football players, it’s important to strike while the iron is glowing like Tom Coughlin’s cheeks during the NFC title game.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
How much money did Sam Baker make at USC this year? That would offset some of the losses.
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April 25th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Meh, good for him. He’s got his priorities straight. He will still be richer then most of us with his 2nd round contract, if he goes that late. And have every chance in the world to be extremely rich.
Stay in school, be a winner!
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April 25th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Heya Florintino -
These guys take out insurance policies. I remember and ESPN The Rag story about Leinert talking about the Insurance policy he took out to cover himself if he didn’t go #1 after staying in school another year.
Im sure Mr. Baker has done the same thing. It would be interesting to kknow if he REALLY loses anything.
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April 25th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I’m pretty sure that Leinart stayed in school because he knew that the 49ers were gonna draft him if he came out. Considering the Nolan/Smith clusterf*ck last year, probably not a bad decision.
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April 25th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
If you did even a little research about Sam Baker you would know that money is one of the lowest priorities to him. That being said…
Although he was expected to be a very high pick last year, he was still expected to be a very high pick this year (until the post season workouts). One might assume whatever transpired to cause Baker’s draft stock drop this year would have caused it to drop last year as well.
Either way, Baker did what what was best for him and I doubt he has any regrets. Fight On Big Sam!!!
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April 25th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
The Cardinals still would have taken Levi Brown. Sam Baker is soft and the Cards wanted a tough run blocker who could also pass protect. That is the exact opposite of Baker.
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April 25th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
i’m sorry, why is this bad? If he’s been exposed as not worth the money, isn’t that the right thing? Why should I feel bad that somebody who was overrated isn’t in fact going to make money he didn’t deserve?
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April 25th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Yeah, I’m sure Baker doesn’t miss the dough. His family’s loaded.
And I don’t see how Leinart suffered by staying an extra year. He possibly dropped 9 spots. Possibly. In turn, he was the coolest guy on a huge campus with many fine women and had virtually no problems. Doesn’t seem like such a bad tradeoff to me.
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April 25th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Isn’t there a bit of a contradiction in complaining about the top ten picks in the draft getting more money than they are worth and claiming that a college prospect missed out on a few more million by not abandoning his education?
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April 27th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
“and based on the possibility that Baker will be at best a high second-round pick in 2008, Rovell estimates that Baker’s losses will be in the neighborhood of $15 million”.
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April 27th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
“and based on the possibility that Baker will be at best a high second-round pick in 2008, Rovell estimates that Baker’s losses will be in the neighborhood of $15 million”.
Hopefully, Rovell’s not being paid by the prediction after this dud.
Sam did his due diligence before deciding to stay. Looks to me like he got his cake and ate it, too. After all, some people enjoy the college experience and realize the money will be there…especially for his second contract if he performs.
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