Wednesday, I was honored to speak to a little less than 100 high school and college players, parents, coaches, NIL agents and NIL agent hopefuls as part of the NIL Explained Zoom session sponsored by Tim Lowney of Lowney Sports. It was a lot of fun, and though I only was given 10 minutes, I took 16. Even at that, I was talking pretty quickly, as you can see in the video segment I published Thursday.

My discussion centered mainly on player evaluation (on both the college and pro levels) and the changing college and pro football landscape, at least as I see it. In case you missed it, the following are the notes I prepared for my presentation.

No one knows what the future holds (and beware of anyone who says they do).

    1. The new reality is that it’s going to take a monumental sum of money to play football
    2. The P4 college GMs I talk to seem confident that they will find the moneyThe G5 schools . . . are hopeful (but that’s all)
    3. There is surely more litigation on the way

    Football is a relationship business. Make sure to align yourself with those who know more people than you do.

    1. Don’t want to hire an agent? OK, but the right one can be very helpful
    2. Know who you hired and understand that there is no certification process for NIL agents
    3. Just because an agent is NFLPA-certified doesn’t mean he’s an expert (on anything)

    Player evaluation is going through drastic changes that are reshaping how teams choose talent (college and pro).

    1. NFL scouting staffs are getting younger while owners are forcing more analytics
    2. College staffs are weighing incorporation of an NFL scouting model (maybe)Beware of non-NFL/college affiliated “scouts”
    3. College GMs are part financial experts, part scouts, part other stuff

    The best way to be a marketable player is to be a good player.

    1. Sometimes, you can spark interest w/colleges via social media
    2. The NFL doesn’t normally respond to social media performance
    3. Your HS pedigree (5-star, etc.) means far more on college side than pro side

    The key to good decisions is knowing your market value. Be honest with yourself.

    1. Don’t trust recruiting services
    2. You get what you pay for
    3. Your NFL value may be different from your NIL/portal value (and probably does)

    What do you think? Was I off-base? Was I pretty accurate? Let me know at @insidetheleague on Twitter. For more analysis of the game, make sure to check out our newsletter, the Friday Wrap, which you can register for here.