Wednesday night, dozens of members of the 2021 NFL agent class joined me on Zoom. Our topic was the 2022 pre-draft all-star cycle, which is bursting at the seams with eight games on the schedule from early January to mid-February. With so many games and so many changes across the board, there’s a lot to know if you’re a new contract advisor.

Here are a few highlights from what we discussed:

• One of the crucial mistakes that new agents make is to wait until December (or even January) to start pitching all-star games on players. Granted, newer agents take longer to get real traction with draft-eligible players, so it takes longer for them to have a player to promote. Still, if you’re reading this and you’re a new agent, start reaching out to games as soon as you get a player to express interest in signing with you.
• It’s also a risk to promote a player you haven’t signed, because often all-star berths make players more attractive to established contract advisors. However, when you don’t have a client list to point to, you need to have something. 
• If you’re a new agent, you need to understand (a) the effect being placed on the Senior Bowl watch list has on a player and (b) the effect getting publicly invited to any all-star game has. Both artificially (and mostly incorrectly) enhance a player’s estimation of his draft status. Every year, about 500 players go to all-star games (far more than that this year). There are only about 100 players selected on the first two days of the draft, and most of those hundred are underclassmen or players who skipped all-star games. That means the lion’s share of all-star game participants are competing for 150 draft slots. Just because a player’s an all-star doesn’t mean he’s an NFL star. The math just doesn’t work. So if you’re an agent, understand this, and stick to your budget.
• One question I always get from agents is a simple one: what should I wear to all-star games? It’s actually a valid question. You don’t want to over-dress and look dumb, and you don’t want to be too casual and look like some kind of weird fan. I recommend a casually professional look, i.e., slacks and a collared shirt. If you feel strongly about wearing a sport coat, that’s not a bad move. I don’t recommend looking like you just stepped off the set of the first Matrix movie, and I don’t recommend wearing a three-piece suit. In other words, don’t try to look like you’re the coolest person in town and don’t try to look like someone you aren’t. 

This is just a quick overview of what we discussed this week. Here are some of the other topics.

• Who, how and when to contact about getting a player into an all-star game
• Costs (if any) associated with each of the respective games
• Background/insights on each of the games’ executive directors
• The general form/schedule of an all-star week
• Which ones will have significant scout coverage and which ones might not
• When you should arrive, what you should do, how you should conduct yourself
• History, success rate of participating players
• Protocol/etiquette for withdrawing a player from a game
• What to say when a game claims there’s no room for your client
• What to tell your client before he goes

If you’re a new agent, or even a recent one, I hope you can join us next month. Next month’s topic will include the cost of representing players, choosing a trainer, how to retard excess costs, etc. All you have to do is become an ITL client. You can do that here if you aren’t already part of the ITL family.

Also, if this topic matters to you, make sure to sign up for our Friday Wrap here. 

A little more than a week ago, prospective NFLPA contract advisors got the results from the CBA exam they took this summer. So what’s their next step? Well, getting out the checkbook, unfortunately — they now have to pay their NFLPA and insurance fees. After that, however, it will be time to get started on one of the most exciting years of their professional careers.

I get a lot of questions this time of year on what a rookie agent needs to do to jump-start their nascent careers. Here’s what I tell them.

• Don’t even consider players that are rated Day 1/Day 2 by any draft services: Look, NIL signings (check our grid here) have reduced the number of players who are even in the draft pool, especially when it comes to the true marquee players in the ’22 draft class. You need to instead know which players are Day 3/UDFA prospects on the FBS level. We do that for all 120-odd FBS schools in our Profile Reports. By the end of the first week of October, we’ll have broken down each of the  129 D-1 schools.
• Recruit locally: Yes, Zoom has changed the way contract advisors recruit, and your travel costs will be reduced. However, at some point, you will need to sit in a player’s living room and pitch your services. It’s cheaper and easier to do that — especially when a player gives you a last-minute invite — if you can drive there. We list the hometowns of top players in our Profile Reports. More on them later.
• When recruiting, target non-sexy positions that are in high demand: Most agents are excited about the industry and want to sign players a little like they draft their fantasy team, i.e., they want touchdown-scorers. There’s a better way. Consider our Draft by the Numbers summaries over the past seven years to know exactly which positions are actually in demand, and which ones are over-saturated when it comes to NFL quotas. You might be surprised to find out which positions are  signed most heavily, and which ones are most scarce.

Here’s a look at 10 more questions we usually get:

• Which states should I register in? Which ones are less restrictive?
• Which all-star games should I pursue to for invitations for my players? How do I know who to contact? How do I contact them?
• What do I say when I get to the final presentation with a client?
• Who are the affordable and competent trainers? What do I say to a player who wants to go to a trainer I don’t know, or can’t afford?
• The player’s school tells me I can’t talk to him until after the season. What do I do now?

For answers to these questions and more, consider becoming part of the ITL family. We will address all these topics in the ITL Rising Contract Advisor Newsletter, which starts in November and continues through draft day as part of our $29.95/mo cost. It’s no extra charge, and covers pretty much every topic that needs to be covered. If you used our exam prep materials, you already know what our newsletter is like.

Want even more? Make sure you’re registered for our Friday Wrap, where we talk about all these topics every week. The key to success in this industry is keeping abreast of all the information related to the business as it happens, and the Wrap (you can register for it here) is a wise step in that direction. Join the nearly 6,000 NFL insiders (agents, scouts, coaches, players and their parents, marketing professionals, compliance experts, trainers, wealth managers and more) who read our industry missive every week.

Hundreds of people who used our exam prep materials are slogging through Day 2 of the NFLPA’s pre-exam seminar. They’ve had lots of thought about what they’ve seen and heard during this year’s first-ever online-only sessions. Here are a few of their texts and my commentary.

• “Some of these questions are ridiculous. Like they have never even opened the CBA before. I mean holy (bleep), just wasting my time.” It never ceases to amaze me how many people come to the exam almost completely unprepared. Because it’s open book and multiple choice and the results are scaled, some of these people will slide through, but just barely. Is that how you want to launch your agent career? The NFLPA does a good job of presenting a difficult exam. If you’re planning on taking it some day, make sure you prepare.

• “They are asking about what a family will receive on death of a player. That will not be on the exam.” Correct. See above. 
   

• “They go at warp speed. If you came into this expecting to be taught what you need to know, you’re in big trouble.” Also: “Honestly – I would be lost trying to learn it now during class. They go sooooo fast.” The CBA is 700 pages. Yes, there’s fluff, but there’s a lot of meat, too. NFLPA officials do the best they can. The people who winged it will probably be back next year (did I mention that we sell a study guide?). I guess at least those who fail don’t have to shell out to fly to DC twice?

• “Some people are fishing too deep and I tried to block them out. . .  The NFLPA was nice as well, they seemed to be trying to help us. Telling us what’s important and what to focus on. I feel good heading into day 2.” I think a lot of people — even those who have studied hard — panic until they get into the seminar and NFLPA officials narrow down the scope of things. At the same time, some of the out-of-left-field questions not only bugged those who are mostly prepared for the exam, but actually confused them. A cleanup of the question-and-answer process is probably something the PA will have to work on before next year, presuming they stay with the online format.

• “I want you to know how awesome you’ve been and how helpful the study guide and practice exams have been. This is the first exam since I think high school where I felt super prepared. Thank you!” Sorry if this is a little self-serving, but we’re proud of the service we provide, and it’s incredibly rewarding to get unsolicited comments like this one.

We’ll be discussing the exam more in detail in this week’s Friday Wrap, which is free. Register here. Hope you can join us.

Years ago, when we first launched our exam prep materials 10 years ago, I used to spend hours talking to clients who were eagerly awaiting the exam and the promise of an exciting new professional path. I heard lots of interesting stories and talked to lots of would-be agents who have gone on to be some of the biggest names in player representation.

These days, that’s a little harder, and the responsibilities of ITL make it tougher to maintain that personal contact. Still, I want to learn what makes the people diving into such a competitive industry tick, so this year, I set up a brief, six-question survey. I sent it out to almost 200 people who’ll be taking the test next month, and got plenty of responses. I thought I’d share the questions and their answers here to give some insights into the 2021 NFLPA Contract Advisor class.

How sure are you that you will be taking the exam in August?: This question had eye-opening results. With about a month until the 2021 exam — an exam, I might add, that has been two years in the making — we found just a handful of test-takers who have actually booked their test slot (the class is so big the test will be administered in phases this year). Seventy-five percent of poll respondents expressed doubt that they are even approved for the exam. About a third said they are 50-50 on whether or not they are slated to take the exam. This is not good.

How far along are you on preparing for the exam?: A plurality of respondents (36 percent) said they’ve been studying for about a month. That’s right on track with our recommended 60 days (minimum) needed to prepare for the test. A quarter of those polled said they’ve been studying for several months, and just a few more (27 percent) said they’ve been prepping for more than a year. Again, it’s no surprise given how many registrants were expecting to take the test last summer. Of course, there are still procrastinators; 11 percent of respondents have yet to begin.

How confident do you feel about taking the exam?: I asked this question hoping that the hundreds of applicants who’ve received our Rising Contract Advisors Newsletter were optimistic about passing the exam. Whether or not that’s a factor, over half (55 percent) said “If I prepare adequately, I like my chances.” That’s encouraging from a group of people using our exam prep materials. Even more encouraging: 30 percent said they’d be “shocked” if they didn’t pass. Just 13 percent said they “hope to pass.”

Our survey group had a lot more to say about the industry and their chances to succeed in it, their level of commitment, and their concerns regarding the mounting cost of being an agent. We discuss their responses to three more poll questions in the Friday Wrap, which comes out tomorrow at its usual time (7:30 p.m. CT). Register for it here.

The name, image and likeness (NIL) issue has been prominent in the news this week given the Supreme Court decision Monday and the pending July 1 deadline when players can begin profiting from marketing themselves. If it’s on the minds of football fans, I knew it would be on the minds of draft prospects. . . or, at least, that’s what I thought. But I wanted to find out for sure, so I asked several of my agent clients. 

Here’s what I asked: What are you hearing from players you recruit re: NIL? Does it come up in conversation? Are they asking what you can do for them in that area?

Here are some of the responses. By the way, I reached out to about 20 contract advisors and only got two who said the players they are recruiting hadn’t asked about it, or who dismissed the issue entirely.

• “Not as prominent as I anticipated it would be. I believe kids are being educated and are wary of signing a marketing deal with a single agent, which I believe is the intelligent thing to do. Don’t sell yourself for pennies on the dollar with an agent/agency that you have a limited relationship with.”
• “(No one has mentioned it) yet, but it’s coming. I think it’ll be a huge tool to use for agencies with the means to do it. But will definitely have to be done right. It could be a huge problem.”

• “Yes (from kids) and from parents. They just ask, ‘what does it mean? What’s in it for them? How do they deal with it?’ . . . My expectation is anyone doing this the right way it’s not going to be much of an impact, but those who aren’t doing things the right way, this just gives them more options.”

• “(It’s) in every conversation. They’re getting bombarded with it. All think they have paydays coming . . . I can tell they’re being sold by agents that they have deals for them now. Reality is, this will only benefit a handful of elite college football players — the QBs, skill players, local heroes, or those that have built themselves a legitimate social following/community or content platform.”

• “We are getting questions on how it will work from most players — but more specifics from skill guys.”

• “Always comes up. We are ready (when they do). . . most players . . . are still super cautious, no matter the caliber. I think nobody wants to be the guinea pig, but they know it’s gonna be a snowball effect.” 

As you know, a couple weeks ago, we asked Twitter which job was harder, agent or scout? The results were overwhelming that a scout’s job is harder, which made me realize that, in many cases, even the closest followers of the business side of the game are still glamorizing the life of an NFL contract advisor. Hopefully, reading some of these responses and recognizing the financial challenges that player representatives face might help change perceptions. 

Want even more? Make sure to sign up for our Friday Wrap. In this week’s episode, we’ll be looking even closer at the NIL issue as it relates to player representation, plus we’ll check out the latest from the scouting world and more.