Yep, he fore-went the money. 🙂
Makes sense for a guy who was open (aka smart enough?) to sitting behind another player for a year (after starting at UCLA for much of his frosh season). I also think the stats don’t lie – those college QBs that don’t start a certain # of games in college generally don’t do well in the NFL. At least NFL teams next year will know they aren’t getting a knucklehead for a QB.
That said, $55M is nothing to sneeze at. Tough decision for sure.
Mariota also came back despite the potential payoff, won the Heisman and made the national championship game.
Herbert came back and won a Rose Bowl game.