McCurdy: Ohio State's Nick Bosa did right thing for Nick Bosa

COLUMBUS - If you are upset that Nick Bosa is no longer a part of the Ohio State football team, then you've got an awful strong prescription for your scarlet colored glasses.

If you think he is a quitter for leaving school to heal an injury and get ready for the NFL draft, then you need to step away from the keyboard, message board warrior.

If you feel he is being disloyal or selfish for thinking of his future and not including the Buckeyes in it, then you need to know there are places other than Buckeye Country in this world.

Agree to disagree, but Bosa did the right thing.

You may be a citizen of Buckeye Nation and you may think it all begins and ends with the football program in Columbus, but it doesn't.

For Bosa, Ohio State was a stepping stone, not the peak.

Saturdays are his ticket to Sundays.

Already being an All-American and a Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year before the start of his junior year, that ticket had been punched. All the NFL draft experts have him pegged as a top five or ten pick and possibly a No. 1 overall selection.

The more he played the more he could potentially hurt his prospects at the next level.

And there was a lot to hurt.

The top pick in last year's draft signed for $32.6 million over four years. The No. 3 pick netted $30 million, the No. 5 $27 million and the 10th $17.5 million. The last player taken in the first round signed for $9.5 million for four years, which is more than anyone is going to get from an entry level job out of college.

By his play over two seasons and three games, Bosa proved to scouts the kind of dynamic defensive end he is. He rang up 29 tackles for loss and 17.5 sacks over 30 games, comparable to what older brother Joey Bosa did for the Buckeyes before becoming a No. 3 overall pick by the then San Diego Chargers a few years ago.

He suffered a core muscle injury against Texas Christian and needed surgery. If he comes back too soon, he runs the risk of injuring it again or maybe something else. Another injury not only does damage to his offseason training for the NFL combine and clouds his overall draft stock, but it potentially raises flags over his health and his ability to comeback from being hurt.

No draftee wants injury-prone on the evaluation sheet.

If Bosa milks it and hangs around the team, there's that weekly question about when he'll return and in what condition he'll be in. That's not the most fair thing for his fellow defensive line mates who would be wondering when he was coming back.

His "selfishness," as some take it, is really unselfishness. The Buckeyes can move on without wondering if and when Bosa is walking through that door again.

There's no question it's a difficult decision. One doesn't get to where Bosa is without being a competitor. From everything ever written or said about him, Bosa was a good teammate.

No doubt he'd love to be a part of another Big Ten championship and play for a national title.

But at what cost would those good feelings and rings potentially come.

Buckeye fans should remember the sad story of Jaylon Smith, the Notre Dame All-American at linebacker and Butkus Award winner who turned his knee into spaghetti against Ohio State in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl. He went from a sure top-five pick to the second round, and he'd not been the same dynamic player he was before the injury.

Buckeye fans surely remember Michigan's Jake Butt. He was the Mackey Award winner as the nation's top tight end and was projected to be a second or third round pick in the NFL. He rips up his ACL in the Orange Bowl and falls to the fifth round.

Those injuries cost the two players millions of dollars. Without a doubt it hurts their second contracts in the league, if they get to a second contract, because they aren't the type of producers they likely would have been if they'd entered the NFL healthy.

It's a gamble playing for free on Saturdays, especially with a pot of gold within reach.

Most of the others on the 85-man OSU roster need to play if they have Sunday aspirations. They need that tape for scouts and NFL decision makers to see.

Bosa doesn't need any more games. He's good in the eyes of the NFL, which has already proven it won't hold it against a player for sitting out college games. See LSU running back Leonard Fournette, Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey and Florida State safety Derwin James. All were first round draft picks who missed bowl games.

For the truly elite, college football is not the end game. It just isn't. For those, college football is the job interview and internship. Why jeopardize a future career and a bank account with millions in it?

Whether Buckeye fans like it or not, Bosa looking out for Bosa was not only the smart thing, it was the right thing.

Rob McCurdy is a sports writer at The Marion Star and USA Today Network-Ohio. he can be reached at rmccurdy@gannett.com, work 740-375-5158, cell 419-610-0998, Twitter @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.