Nick Bosa Reaction

There was a moment in a recent interview with Nick Bosa that made me see the writing on the wall.  He said that his main focus was to make sure that on every snap he took, he looked good enough on tape that no one could criticize him in the future for lack of effort and discipline. It made me pause for a second and think, "huh?"

We're used to players saying thing like, "Our focus is only on [insert upcoming opponent]" leading up to game day. In my opinion, it was a quick insight into the mindset that Bosa had while putting on his Ohio State uniform. His goal was to make sure his NFL evaluation was pristine and no one could poke holes in it. Which honestly, makes complete sense from his point of view.

Taking a look at just the signing bonuses (and not the overall salary) of the 2018 NFL Draft picks, there was a roughly $4mil difference between the 1st and 5th pick and approximately an $11mil difference in the 1st and 10th pick.

That's a lot of cash. Especially when very minor critiques from scouts can lead to a prospect slipping just single digit spots, which as you can see, has a big impact on the paycheck in the first round.

Nick Bosa is also only 20 years old and he's getting advice from his dad, John Bosa, who played in the NFL and undoubtedly his brother Joey, who is currently in the NFL. And their experience and insight on securing a comfortable financial future is probably overwhelmingly influential on Nick.

Having said all of this, it still really stings. In a perfect world, Nick Bosa would be getting his rehab thinking about how he wants to get back on the field with his teammates that voted him captain.. In a perfect world for Ohio State fans, Bosa would have a part of his heart that is forever dedicated to Buckeye Nation and therefore, has a sense of duty and responsibility to compete not only for his current team, but for past teams that have paved the way to get the program where it is today.

But unfortunately, that isn't the case here. And the frustrating part about that is that there probably isn't a "right" answer to all of this. It's very difficult to put ourselves in the lives of others and recognize that we all have unique thoughts, our own goals and our own dreams. I think this just comes down to Nick Bosa's dreams not being what many fans want it to be.

And that's okay.

I personally wish Nick Bosa the best of luck moving forward and I will root for him when he gets to the NFL and I will also be extremely proud of the rest of the current 2018 roster for picking up the slack and going to battle for each other and for the program moving forward.

Life will go on and so will Ohio State football. This will be a fleeting moment in the vast and successful history of the program and this team still has a chance to have one of the best seasons we've seen.

Let's Go Bucks.