This is a difficult question to answer when your NFL rival selects a player from your favorite college team.
Over the weekend, Ohio State had a dominant showing at the NFL Draft, as 14 Buckeyes heard their names called. The OSU haul tied the 2020 LSU and the 2004 Ohio State draft classes for the second most in a single draft, behind 2022 Georgia’s 2022. But with over a dozen beloved former Buckeyes matriculating into the NFL, it does raise some questions for Ohio State fans in terms of loyalty.
What happens when a Buckeye is selected by the rival of your favorite NFL team? Do you only root for the player, or does your hatred for the franchise soften a little bit? Personally, I watch NFL RedZone every weekend and catch all of the primetime games, but I wouldn’t say that I follow the NFL particularly closely, and I don’t have a team that I root for (I turned in my Cincinnati Bengals fandom card back in the early Marvin Lewis days).
So, for me, how I approach Buckeyes in the league is simple: I want them all to do well, and if that means their teams win, great. I have no hangups about whether they play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, or any other team.
However, there are many college football fans who apparently feel differently, because in a recent SB Nation Reacts survey (sponsored by the fine folks at FanDuel), 44% of respondents say that they will cheer for players from their favorite college team, but don’t actually want them to win. And, look, I get it.
Loyalty and rooting interests run deep, so by rooting for the individual success of players from your favorite college team, you are showing loyalty to them and their college program. But, by not actively rooting for them to win, you are remaining loyal to your NFL team of choice. It can be a tough needle to thread, but fandom is about emotion, not logic, so feel free to do it the way that works best for you.
With the Steelers selecting two incredibly popular Buckeyes, Jack Sawyer and Will Howard, there are probably a lot of Bengals and Cleveland Browns fans out there who are conflicted about how to feel about Mike Tomlin’s squad.
However, regardless of how you feel about the Steelers (or any other team that drafted Buckeyes), the fact that there are more than 14 new Buckeyes in the NFL (counting players like Seth McLaughlin and Gee Scott Jr., who signed as undrafted free agents) can only be considered a good thing. So, root for them in whatever way works for your fandom, just make sure that you are rooting for them.
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