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WSW: The Road Less Traveled

11 Wednesday Nov 2015

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Dean Dalton is the Senior Vice President of Football Administration for a new football league, Major League Football, that kicks off this spring. The league is the latest in a number of similar leagues that have tried to sustain interest with rabid fans as an adjunct – not a competitor – to the NFL.

Dean is wise enough to know the odds are long for success, but the league is doing things in a way that should endear it to potential players and the agents that represent them. It all starts with salaries — $2,500 per week, which is about five times what some indoor leagues pay – but also includes the coaches and administrators running the league.

“We had 15 ex-NFL coaches at our tryout in Massillon, Ohio, and I introduced our coaches to the athletes in the tryout, and as I introduced them, I got more and more impressed,” he said. “I said, ‘Hey guys, the Hall of Fame is about six miles away. Raise your hand if you’ve helped coach someone with a bust in the Hall.’

“Of the 15, only two didn’t go up.”

That’s an impressive pedigree, but Dalton is no slouch himself. A veteran NFL coach, he spent eight seasons (1999-2007) on the offensive side of the ball with the Vikings, finishing out his career as the team’s running backs coach before an ownership change meant head coach Mike Tice and his staff were dismissed despite finishing with a 9-7 record in ’05.

During Dalton’s time with the Vikings, he got to spend a lot of time with QB Brad Johnson, who’s more or less the poster boy for players who play major college football but still need a bit more development before they’re ready for the NFL. Johnson began his career at Florida State on the basketball team before ascending to an off-and-on role as a starter for the Seminoles. It wasn’t until he got to the NFL, however, that he really got a chance to mature: it was during the 1995 offseason that he spent with the London Monarchs in the now-defunct World League of American Football (WLAF).

“I have a great relationship with Brad because I was in Minnesota before he left, then went to Washington and Tampa Bay, where he won a Super Bowl,” Dalton said. “Then I was with Tice when we brought him back, and in 2005, (starting quarterback) Daunte (Culpepper) went down and Brad came in and we won 7 out of the last 8, and had a heck of a run. He was great. I got to experience Brad on two ends of his career, I used to tease him that there were kids that still had a No. 14 jersey in their closet even though he’d been gone 7-8 years

“We also teased him about his Florida State career, too. His bride was the sister of the offensive coordinator at Florida State when Brad was the QB, and that is none other than (Georgia head coach) Mark Richt, so we teased him that over in London you didn’t have to marry the offensive coordinator’s sister to get the starting job, and neither did he in Minnesota. But he’s got a beautiful family, they’re a great couple, and he’s a terrific guy.”

Dalton said Johnson’s time developing his game in a league other than the NFL was a major part of his success, and one reason he went on to win a Super Bowl.

“He elevated his football IQ to the highest level (by playing in the World League),” Dalton said. “He was literally the coordinator on the field, a super-intelligent football player, and as a QB, he provided this sense of calm and focused leadership. During meetings, he’d tell a story, and get everybody tuned into the story, and the story would take us where we’d need our focus that week. What the World League did was give him the ability to polish his football skill set while enhancing his leadership traits.”

A Problem For All Athletes

10 Tuesday Nov 2015

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Last week, I was privileged to be one of the presenters at the 2015 Sports Financial Advisors Association Conference at The McCormick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. During the two days at the conference, I sat at a table with Craig S. Wolman, a CPA and business manager at New York City-based Cohn Reznick.

Besides having a wry sense of humor (which sustained the audience well as he discussed some of the drier topics last week), he’s a very credible person who works with athletes in all four of the major sports. He’s been working with the members of the sports and entertainment industry for 15 years as a CPA and advisor.

He’s very strong in one area that I’m very weak: hockey. I asked him if working with hockey players is different from working with football players. To his credit, he doesn’t subscribe to the standard ‘all athletes are the same’ schtick.

“As a group I’ve always enjoyed working with hockey players the most,” he said. “They seem to be the most genuine, and they really rely on the help of their advisors. A hockey player leaves home when he’s 13 or 14, goes and plays juniors in these really developmental minor leagues in Western Canada, to really focus on their game. Baseball and football players, they’re at home, surrounded by where they grew up, their family and friends, all through high school, then to college for a little bit.

“Hockey players tend to really rely more on their help, but it doesn’t make them any more savvy or less susceptible.”

He referred to an incident in the news in the past year that might seem hard to believe.

“A year ago, the Columbus Bluejackets’ Jack Johnson had to file for bankruptcy because his own parents were stealing from him,” he said. “They were taking out mortgages in his name and borrowing against it. A lot of parents feel like they’re owed it.

“Hockey players, in most areas, you have to get up really early for rink times and practices, and there are 5 a.m. sessions, and kids that are 9 and 10 years old don’t drive themselves. So the parents say, ‘hey , I earned this for 10 years. You’re my golden parachute.’ Anybody can fall prey. Nobody is immune.”

It’s certainly not something endemic to hockey. An incident from last week illustrates it on the college level.

“The family, they’re itching for that three-year window to expire so they can benefit,” Craig said. “Look at the article last week about LSU RB Leonard Fournette, where there he invented a catch phrase, BUGA (Being United Generates Attitude) Nation, and the family was capitalizing by setting up a website and making T-shirts, and the NCAA found out about it and they squashed it right away.

“Nothing really happened. It was his mother, that was creating the website. They had investors, and a lot of time, the outside investors are using the family as well. They promise the family money for this until the son declares.”

If you’re seeking to work with athletes one day, there are two things to consider. One, maybe working with their money is your avenue — there’s certainly a need to protect these young, largely naive men. Two, the people you might be protecting them from are their close friends and family members, which is easier than it sounds.

“It’s everywhere,” Craig said. “The parents can’t wait to get their claws in there. And yeah, they let the kids know. (The players) want to take care of everybody. The parents may not come right out and say it, but the players know. They hear, ‘when you make it, I want this,’ etc. They’ve seen what other athletes have done when they had their turn.”

Small School, Long Odds

09 Monday Nov 2015

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Last week, I reached out to a new agent who had expressed interest in our service. It’s a big time to reach new contract advisors, and we do a lot of work walking them through the process this time of year.

At any rate, he expressed reluctance to join ITL. A combine trainer himself, he had gotten his wife certified so he could cut out the middle man and sign, then train, his own prospects. He explained that several of his recent trainees had gotten camp invites despite coming out of DII schools.

It’s true that small-school players make it to the league sometimes, especially from FCS schools, but sometimes even at the DII and DIII levels. Still, though small-schoolers get lots of ink and make for excellent stories, they tend to make it in far fewer numbers and have far shorter careers than their FBS counterparts.

To illustrate the scarcity of small-schoolers in the most recent NFL draft class, I took at look at the opening-week rosters. Including practice squad players, I counted 461 rookies in the league. Of that 461, eight had formerly played at Division I-A programs, so if not for grades or off-field matters, they’d still have big-school pedigrees.

Looked at another way, of that 461, only 65 (just 14 percent) did not come from Division I-A programs (i.e., FBS). Of that 65, 43 (two-thirds) came from FCS schools (formerly known as Division I-AA). Just 16 came from Division II schools.

I had lunch with a scout who lives near me about a year ago, and when I asked him how they made sure they didn’t miss any small-school phenoms, he just shrugged his shoulders. He said that the FBS schools do the job of sifting out the truly impact players from everyone else for NFL teams, and most take their chances that they’ll trip across any small-school players that matter in the course of their work.

Bottom line, I hope this young agent can keep his momentum going and find the small-school players that will stick, but it’s not going to be easy if this year’s draft class is any indication. And I think it is.

WST: When Fame and Fortune Take a Wrong Turn

05 Thursday Nov 2015

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This week, I’m part of the 2015 Sports Financial Advisor Association’s Conference at the McCormick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. It’s the first event of its kind, and it’s exciting to be in a place filled with energy, ideas and most importantly, the desire to see things done more equitably and ethically. It’s a business where sometimes that’s the exception rather than the rule.

(I should mention that the reason I missed out on War Story Wednesday was my travel getting here. My apologies!)

The event’s run by Jonathan Miller, a CPA in nearby Paradise Valley whose vision it is to educate and prepare athletes to make smart financial decisions and protect them from the leeches that hang around the game.

The event’s moderator/presenter is Nick Lowery, a Hall of Fame placekicker who had a great run with some Kansas City Chiefs teams that weren’t always world-beaters. It was during the Chiefs’ down cycle in the mid-80s when Lowery was having one of his best seasons. At one point during the season, he had hit 22 of 23 kicks. This was something he was quite proud of; he “felt like (he) was doing (his) job,” he said Thursday.

It was during this season that he had to make a quick stop at a convenience store to pick up breakfast food — milk, eggs, etc. It was while the cashier was running up his total when, suddenly, a look of recognition came across her face.

“Hey, I know you!” she said. “You’re that kicker. You’re Nick Lowery.”

He acknowledged that he was who she said he was, expecting the praise that comes from being a pro athlete having an exceptional season.

“You missed that kick,” he got instead. “I remember you. I could have made that kick with my left foot. What’s wrong with you?”

I heard another story today that perfectly illustrates why people inside the game say that “NFL” stands for “Not For Long.”

Among the panelists here is Michael Stone, who had a seven-year NFL career as a defensive back with the Texans, Cardinals, Patriots, Rams and, finally, the Giants, the team he “retired” from in 2007. Of course, no one gave him a gold watch or a plaque.

Michael told the story of his abrupt exit from the league. It was during the preseason in ’07, and he was experiencing pain in his hip. He went to the team doctor, who told him he had a torn labrum. Alarmed, he left to seek out a second opinion from an outside doctor, who confirmed the diagnosis. It was during his drive back from the doctor that his agent called to tell him he’d just been cut.

Stories like this are the reason so many people are here to talk about how athletes can make smart choices and don’t wind up in a 30 for 30 episode.

More stories and my thoughts from Scottsdale later.

A Great Trainer’s Take On Great Players

03 Tuesday Nov 2015

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What separates good players from great players? What gives NFL players the chance to be longtime veterans instead of guys that bust, that never make it?

That’s a question many teams have devoted endless hours to answering. In an attempt to find the answer myself, I asked Tony Villani, who runs XPE Sports, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based combine prep facility that is one of the 3-4 best in the nation.

Not only is Tony an incredible trainer, he’s a great guy, too. So many people in the football business, and especially in the trainer space, have incredibly big egos. However, Tony has almost no ego. He’s always got time for everyone and never blows his own horn. And though he gets frustrated and even angry at times, he’s always upbeat and positive.

I asked him about the best players he trains and what makes them great. There were a couple takeaways:

They train every chance they get, even while everyone else is relaxing, or spending their by week in Las Vegas, or even the weekend after a Thursday night game: “(Saints OH Mark) Ingram came down after a Thursday night game this year. Ingram bucks the system. When he first came into the league, he tried to do it his own way. It wasn’t until he got humbled that he decided to do it right. I went to Flint(, Mich., Ingram’s hometown) to meet him personally before the combine, and he chose somewhere else (Sonic Boom in New Orleans). He performed awful. (Wisconsin OG) John Moffitt had a better broad jump and shuttle run! Ingram ran a 4.6 (40), his vertical was bad, it was awful.

“He still didn’t come here after his first year, but then after his second year in the NFL, that’s when he came and he started listening, and became a believer, and bought a Shredmill (a treadmill-like device that Tony patented), and then he bought a house down here, and I think it’s shown. That’s how (49ers WO) Anquan Boldin and (Bucs OB) Lavonte David and the Pounceys (Dolphins OC Mike and Steelers OC Maurkice) and (Redskins WO) Pierre Garcon all do it. They build their offseason around their offseason training. Not where their girl is, not anything else. They can party, do what they want, but they gotta build it around their offseason.”

They turn their weaknesses into strengths, or at least make their weaknesses adequate. Tony sees it in veterans training in the offseason, especially those who exercise the ’75 percent rule:’ “We call it our 75 percent rule. Everybody works out together in the morning for about two hours. The extra 25 percent is what everyone figures out they’re gonna do on their own. For the Pounceys, it might be more lifting. For Eric Berry, it might be more speed. For Byron Maxwell, it might be more flexibility in his hips. Maybe for linemen, it’s more boxing. We call them the 75 percenters, and they give you 75 percent in the morning, and the ‘lifers’ figure out what they’re weak on.

“Everyone thought (former Eagles and Vikings WO) Cris Carter caught a lot of balls in the offseason. They all say, he must catch a thousand, 500 balls a day. Well, I never saw him practice catching balls. He was really slow, and he worked on his weakness. Everybody wants to work on what they’re great at. (Their weakness) is what we try to focus on. They work out together in the morning, then in the afternoon they work on their weaknesses.”

Reminders On A Good QB’s Value

02 Monday Nov 2015

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As a Houston resident, I’ve gotten a pretty close-up look at the value of a quarterback. After going 9-7 last season with a serviceable passer that seemingly no one here liked, Ryan Fitzpatrick, the team settled for a couple of castoffs from other teams. The results have been dismal.

Quarterbacks get more blame in bad times and more glory in good times than they deserve, but they’re still very important. Now that we’re at the halfway mark of the season, here are a few observations, facts and figures that illustrate this point.

  • Saints fans (like me) were up in arms when the Saints traded their only real red-zone threat, TE Jimmy Graham, in the offseason. At the halfway mark of the season, Graham has 38 catches for 450 yards and two TDs. Through eight games, Ben Watson, the player who replaced him, has 38 catches for 472 yards and 3 TDs.
  • By the way, not only is Watson surpassing Graham, but he’s already totaled more catches and yards than he did in eight of his 12 seasons. Obviously, Saints head coach Sean Payton recognized that as long as he had Drew Brees, he could score touchdowns and move the football.
  • Packers receiver James Jones bolted for Oakland last year after seven seasons in Green Bay and looked pretty much spent, averaging only 9.1 yards per catch (ypc). After returning to the Pack, he’s connected with Aaron Rodgers for a 19.1 ypc average, his best average ever, in his 10th season.
  • Tom Brady has won multiple Super Bowls with players that were either mostly overlooked in the draft (Julian Edelman, Troy Brown, Wes Welker) or cast off by other teams (Randy Moss, Brandon LaFell).
  • The Cowboys, obviously, were expecting a lot different results this season from the ones they’ve gotten since Tony Romo went on IR Sept. 22. With five straight losses, there won’t be much for Romo to come back to this year.

I could go on and on, obviously, but you get the point. That’s why it’s so important to watch the Paxton Lynches and the Jared Goffs as we wind down the season. NFL teams certainly will be.

Which Schools Give Scouts the Most Headaches?

29 Thursday Oct 2015

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One might think that all schools want to see their players drafted, right? It brings press and prestige to the program, and helps a team land the next big recruits, one would think.

Well, one would be wrong, at least in some cases. We polled several scouts to get their opinions on what schools give them the most problems. Some were diplomatic, some less so. The one school that came through more than once was Auburn, but I’ll let the scouts do the talking.

Here are five responses we got from different scouts. Auburn was the only school named more than once, and it was named three times.

  • “All schools are different. Some (are) certainly “easier” than others based on a lot of factors. But in the end, it’s a long evaluation process and teams generally get what they need (even if it’s not as easily accessible as they would like).”
  • “So many bad ones and so many very good ones. Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, UCLA, Arizona, Florida, Oregon, Stanford, would be at the top of the lists before this year. Worst visits would be K-State, Louisville (and) used to be Texas, but not sure now with (head coach Charlie) Strong. (Former Texas head coach) Mack Brown was a really good guy, but you had to work really hard to get information. It should be better (now). Basically there are some difficult coaches who make your job difficult.”
  • “TCU, Georgia Tech and Auburn come to mind. They just restrict viewing practice and when you can visit. (Auburn has) actually gotten better. Georgia Tech is possibly the worst in the South. They only let you watch practice for 12 minutes. (Head coach Paul Johnson) doesn’t care.”
  • “Most of the colleges out west are pretty good. Sometimes, some of the SEC schools can be difficult. But it’s different with different steps. Sometimes you can go to Alabama or Georgia and you’re great to deal with, but under a different staff there, (it’s) tougher to deal with. Same thing with any other college. . . Obviously all the big schools have high-end equipment and some of the lower-end schools (Division II, Division III) and some of the traditionally African-American schools sometimes don’t have as good equipment. . .  .”
  • “Auburn, Michigan and Michigan State to name a few. (Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn) is odd but his assistants are good people.”
  • “Auburn and Oklahoma State.”

WSW: All-Star Antics

28 Wednesday Oct 2015

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The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and the Shrine Game have both sent out their first round of invitations, and with the Senior Bowl slated to do the same on Monday, it’s about that time when conversation turns to the showcases where scouts get to evaluate top players from the ’16 draft class.

It got me thinking about a question I get at times, which is: were the players at the games you ran ever a problem? I can think of two good examples.

The first instance was in the first game I ever worked. It was called the Inta Juice North-South All-Star Classic in Houston in 2007. I was Personnel Director for the game, and still trying to figure out exactly where I fit into the football landscape.

It was played the second week in January ’07, and after spending the fall cobbling together a roster from scratch with the game’s president, my friend, Dave Ippoliti, we got through game week with a feeling of exhaustion and accomplishment. Though it was the first time any of us had done anything like this, we had arrived at game day, and we were feeling pretty satisfied. Except for a few late buses and a full week of chicken wings meals at every lunch (we had found a vendor who would trade us meals for advertising), I was pretty satisfied. However, I remember an event that took a bit of shine off the experience.

The players had just gotten off the bus and were filing into the lockers to get dressed when someone remarked about a missing piece of gear — a mouthpiece, or an ear pad, or something along those lines. I said something along the lines of, ‘I’ll take care of it,’ but before I could get going, I heard something along the lines of, “You better, because y’all haven’t given us anything all week.”

It was Lane College WR Jacoby Jones. Though he had come from a tiny school, we had given him a chance in our game, and he performed, parlaying his appearance into a Shrine Game slot the following week and, in the draft, a third-round selection by the Texans. Though we felt we’d been quite charitable in getting him a look with scouts, he was frustrated because we hadn’t loaded him up with swag such as free hoodies, track suits and shoes with fancy game logos. This was a bit of an omen; Jones showed his petulance on more than one occasion in the league and had his share of off-field incidents, including a celebrated party bus fight with a stripper and a DWI arrest.

The only other incident came in 2008, the following year, when I was running the Hula Bowl as its Executive Director. Though most of our players were on their best behavior (including Fresno State DT Jason Shirley, who wore a suit everywhere he went — in Hawaii — to try to dispel a few character issues), there was one player who was always on our case. If we had to change the schedule, or a meeting was cancelled, or a practice ran late, there was Western Michigan OG James Blair, showing up at our game headquarters with a big frown, there to express his dissatisfaction with this latest injustice. It got to where every time we saw him, we wanted to run the other way, because he was never happy. I remember the week after the game a Bucs scout called me to ask if we’d had any problems with any players. I gave him one name, and I remember that after I told him, I got the sense that that was the name he was expecting.

If you’re a player who gets a game invite, or the parent or agent of a young man hoping to get one, make sure you urge him not to be a malcontent during game week. His unhappiness might not mean anything to scouts (as with Jones), but it might wind up having an impact (Blair, despite getting invited to the combine, went undrafted and bounced around briefly with three teams before leaving the league).

Previewing An ITL Presentation

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

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Next week, I’ll be part of a conference for sports financial advisors and athletes in Scottsdale, Ariz. I’m giving a preview of what I’ll be addressing this weekend in my hometown outside Houston. Today, I’m going to organize my thoughts a bit in this space. I hope you don’t mind.

I’ll be talking about how to build or expand a practice with NFL clients. There are really three rules you have to go by, four if you count ‘you have to be a good financial advisor.’

Here’s an overview.

  • You have to be able to make contact: Lots of well-meaning financial professionals register with the NFLPA’s program, thinking it will give them secret passage to a thriving NFL practice. They find out that the NFLPA only wants to vet them (and not always that well), license them, and cash their checks. Another common misconception is that financial planners can knock on a few agents’ doors, shake their hands, impress them with how earnest and honest they are, and expect agents to hand over their clients’ phone numbers. That’s another misconception. Most times, agents don’t want any part of their clients’ financial hires. Too many bad things can happen.
  • You have to know when to make contact: Veteran financial professionals know that players want to save their offseason for non-football ventures. Most of them don’t want to deal with boring things they don’t understand, like investments and saving, on their own time. That’s why they tend to focus on these things during the season. Of course, that’s veterans. To get veterans, often it’s best to set the table before they become veterans. To do that, it’s best to go where draft prospects are, which is all-star games. Most years, there are five to six of them. This year, there are only three. It’s important to know when they are, where they are, and when, specifically, to go to these games.
  • You have to know what to say: I talk to a lot of financial advisors that want to get into the game, and when I ask them why, they start off with how much money they have under management. I get it – that’s important. Point is, most players will presume that you have lots of big clients and know exactly what you’re doing, money-wise. You’ll be hired based on your ability to connect with the player and his family. And by the way, a player’s family plays a much bigger role in his financial planner decision than in his agent decision (which he often makes on his own).

This is the 30-second version of the 60-minute presentation I’ll be giving this weekend. Want more? Interested in hearing the souped-up version, either this weekend or next week? Email me here.

 

More Cap Insights From J.I.

26 Monday Oct 2015

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We’ve been using this space to share the insights of former Redskins cap guru J.I. Halsell, who’s worked for the league as well as for one of the biggest agencies in the business, Priority Sports, as a contract advisor. I think he does a good job of making the cap understandable for the layman (like me). You must agree, because his posts have been pretty popular.

Here are a couple more questions and answers from J.I.

Former Jets GM John Idzik was criticized by some and hailed by others for creating several million dollars in cap space, then sitting on it during the final year he ran the team, contending that there weren’t quality players available and that he’d rather spend the money the next year. In general, is this a wise strategy?

In personal finance, it is normally ill-advised to spend money just because you have it. However, if there is need in your household that must be addressed, then spending the money is most likely prudent.  Some would argue that the Jets under Idzik had many needs in their proverbial household; Idzik obviously differed in his opinion.  Clubs like the Packers eschew veteran free agency and instead prefer to build through the draft and reward those home-grown players with cap dollars on their second contracts. In my opinion, given the various uncertainties (scheme, comfort, et al) with signing a pricey veteran free agent, the most prudent use of cap dollars is on your own because you know what you’re getting.  The key to this philosophy, however, is that you have to draft and develop players.  If you unsuccessfully develop players, then you have to go into the uncertainty that is free agency to address your needs.

For a healthy team that enjoys success over the long run, what does the team’s cap picture look like? Where is the money spent? What percent of the cap is usually bundled up in how many players? Is most of the cap space devoted to defense or offense? On average, how much of a team’s cap space is devoted to the starting QB?

Sustained organizational success in the league is often correlated to the presence of an established franchise QB.  Accordingly, a club’s biggest cap allocation is (usually) at the QB position, where the average allocation per player is 3.1%, compared to an average of 1.3%-1.8% for all other positions per player.  The split between offense and defense in terms of cap allocation is fairly even at 44.8% and 42.9%, with the balance of cap allocations consisting of specialists and players no longer on the roster.

As always, don’t forget to follow J.I. on Twitter, and if you’re serious about finding a niche in the game that few people pursue, give serious consideration to joining his site, NFL Contract Metrics.