This time of year, I start hearing from the people who are taking the NFLPA exam that summer. They want to know what we offer in the way of exam prep, but we usually discuss the road ahead for new agents, as well. 

One of these pending agents mentioned that he’d heard about ITL on Reddit, which is a platform that I rarely use, so I checked it out. What I found was some sage advice from a person known only as Mantooth 77. His entire post is here. What I’ve done is to copy some of his responses to a question about his brief career as an NFL player representatives, and offer my comments. 

“I was an agent a few years ago. I went all out for a year, signed about 6 prospects and 1 FA veteran who was trying to get back in the league. Three of those prospects got mini-camp invites and 1 was signed to a practice squad. After a year, I found that my main business was suffering as a result of all the time and money I had to spend on being an agent, so I didn’t renew. I think those in the industry would tell you, for a first year guy, I did well.”

This is exactly what success looks like for a first-year, independent agent. If you’re aiming a whole lot higher than this, you may be in for a severely rude awakening unless you have some excellent relationships with players prior to taking the exam.

“When I had asked around ‘should I do it’ before I pulled the trigger, I didn’t get a lot of resistance. But then when I got out there, different story.”

This is so commonplace. Friends want to be encouraging, which is understandable, but it’s almost impossible to know what’s ahead unless you’ve done a really good internship under an agent. 

“Many agents sign guys the first year that don’t even have a chance. Trust me, I did. I’d see a guy made all conference or 2nd team in a smaller conference and think, this guy has a chance. But for whatever reason, the scouts don’t like him. Maybe he’s too small or too slow. Regardless, they all think that if you send them to the Disney World of training, they are going to light up Pro Day and make Scouts fall in love with them on the spot. So, if you sign a guy anywhere near worthy, you’re going to have to spend money to help him train for pro day.”

So many agents enter the business when they are not ready financially, then think they’ve thought of things others haven’t. They find out their ideas aren’t so original after all. You have to spend some money. There’s no getting around it. 

Agents: The league is run by the bigger agents. The newer guys, if they play their cards right and get lucky, they get a guy in the league. Let’s say the guy signs an UDFA contract after the draft. This is great for guys like you. Only problem is, guys like Drew you know who pray on guys like this. You bust your ass and take all the risk of getting the guy in the league. You’re praying that he gets 4 accrued seasons to be eligible for a veteran FA deal. That entire 4 seasons you better believe the bigger agents are pouncing on your guy Bob Sugar style. It is very very common that you lose that battle and you’re fired. The bigger agencies simply have more to offer in every way. In that case, you get paid out on the rookie deal, but the veteran deal is goners. You’re done.

This may be the most important paragraph Mantooth77 wrote. It’s pretty self-explanatory.

Players will sweet talk you but are 100% out there for themselves. And they will turn on you in a split second for someone better. And if something goes wrong (i.e. they don’t get a camp invite, etc…), it’s all your fault. That being said, I don’t really blame them. They’ve played their whole lives to get into the league, so everything is at stake. Beware of these guys, most of them are hustlers and you are just a means to an end. Very shallow relationship.

This is sad but very true. 

“Oh, and don’t allow yourself to get biased for any reason. Look first and foremost at HEIGHT/WEIGHT/SPEED. Say it to yourself over and over again. HEIGHT/WEIGHT/SPEED. If a guys HWS isn’t NFL quality, you’re wasting your time. They all think they’re amazing. All of them. “Just give me a chance.” They’ll sweet talk you into thinking they’ll blow out pro day with proper training. They rarely do.”

Training is important, but a player is who he is. No amount of training is going to cut a full second off their 40 time or add a foot to their vertical jump. 

I encourage you to read the whole post. I couldn’t have written it better myself.

For more on player representation and the ups and downs of being an agent, read our newsletter, the Friday Wrap. You can register for it here.