INDIANAPOLIS – Denzel Ward’s decision to sit out the Cotton Bowl was not an easy decision for the Ohio State cornerback to make.
Speaking at the NFL Scouting Combine on Sunday, in his first open media availability since he skipped what would have been the final game of his Ohio State career, Ward described the decision as "very difficult," but one he felt he had to make in order to preserve his stock for the 2018 NFL draft.
"There was many conversations with the coaches, what I was going to do or whatever, but at the end of the day, it was my overall decision to sit out the Cotton Bowl. That was really just to not risk injury," Ward said. "It’s not that I didn’t want to play the game. I wanted to play. It was hard, but I was glad we got the win though."
While the Buckeyes defeated USC, 24-7, to win their final game of last season, Ward stood on the sideline, even though he was fully healthy. Following in the footsteps of several other highly rated draft prospects from recent years, however, including 2017 top-10 picks Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey, Ward decided that play another game in the scarlet and gray was not worth the risk of suffering an injury that could ruin his draft stock, like the serious knee injury Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith suffered against Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl at the end of the 2015 season.
That said, it wasn’t a decision that Ward made lightly. Although he did tell his coaches before the day of the game that he wasn’t going to play, it wasn’t a decision that he made weeks in advance, as he continues to practice with the Buckeyes in the weeks leading up to the game.
"I was very conflicted on it," Ward said.
Ward said Sunday that he would have played if the Buckeyes made the College Football Playoff.
While Ward avoided the risk of injury by sitting out the game, an opposing point of view would be that he could have improved his stock for the NFL draft even more by playing in the game and finishing his career strong. That’s exactly what happened for Ohio State’s other defensive back at this year’s combine, Damon Webb, who pointed to the Cotton Bowl as the first game of his film that he would want scouts to watch.
Ward, though, really might have had more to lose than gain. He’s already projected to be Ohio State’s fifth first-round cornerback draft pick in five years, and while some coaches might have questions about the fact that Ward decided not to compete in the final game of the season with his team, Ward said he does not believe NFL teams are holding that against him.
"They didn’t speak much about it or give their opinion," Ward said, having interviewed with coaches, general managers and scouts from throughout the league. "They kind of just asked me about, 'Why did I sit out the bowl game?' Are they willing to hear my thoughts? And then after I told them that, they kind of went on to the next question."
Now, Ward will look to solidify his stock as a first-round pick when the cornerbacks take the field for on-field workouts – which he does not plan to sit out – on Monday, the final day of the NFL Scouting Combine.
"I’m very excited," said Ward, who declared for the draft with one remaining season of eligibility at Ohio State. "That’s what kind of led to my reasoning of leaving early. I wanted to kind of uphold that tradition of being that next guy to be a first-round draft pick from Ohio State."
