It was horrible to watch. Jaylon Smith was headed to be a possible top-5 draft pick when in his final college game, he was pushed from behind and awkwardly twisted and bent his knee.

The injury was brutal: his ACL and LCL were torn, and he had nerve damage. He ended up being drafted in the second round by the Cowboys — but likely, even with an insurance policy, lost a large amount of money and was placed on injured reserved by the Cowboys this week. Should he have gone in the top five, as projected by some draft experts, his contract would be in the $20 million range. Instead, he got $4.42 million guaranteed.

Too often college football fans get very upset when their best players choose to skip a bowl game and enter the NFL draft. This can explain at least some of it.