This week, we wrapped up July with our second ITL Agent Week. Our star-studded lineup included one of the most powerful agents in the business (Lagardere Sports’ Joel Segal), a former NFL cap chief (ex-Browns and Chiefs exec Trip MacCracken), an ex-GM (Mark Dominik, formerly of the Bucs) and a former pro scouting director (Dane Van der Nat, previously with the Raiders).

The week was very well-received. “All were awesome and provided info that you typically have to learn by trial and error,” said one participant. Said another: “The week has been amazing . . . and I’m looking forward to future seminars!!”

At the risk of being immodest, I’d agree, but it has nothing to do with me. It’s exciting that, this month, I’ve been able to bring together friends who are interested in giving back to the industry for a very small fee, and to find ITL clients who were willing to come out of pocket to listen to and interact with experts in the field. Kudos to everyone involved.

Here’s a bit of what you heard if you were on the Zoom sessions this week.

Van der Nat on developing players from other sports: “Coaches can be short on patience. If you’re getting (these players) early in the offseason, you could have an opportunity. We would bring those guys in for a tryout, maybe a CFL guy or a basketball player. . . . Can this big WR play TE? Can the tackle play tight end? Can the basketball player play tight end? Those are great situations to see. Can he learn it? Is he speaking the same language? After two days, a coach will have an opinion on a player to know if he wants to keep him or move on.”

Dominik on player attrition this year: “I think corner depth is hard to get. You can find three to four cornerbacks, but especially this year, there’s gonna be a lot of soft tissue injuries that usually hit corners hard, and if you have corners that can run a little bit, that’s a spot where teams will get hit quick.”

MacCracken on the value of relationships: “It was my job to take interest, to the best of my ability in whoever I’m working with. There’s no such thing as an agent you can disregard. . .  Every person has a different personality. It’s almost like you have to bend your personality to fit theirs. . .  And as an agent, you will deal with coaches, scouts, GMs, owners, negotiators, and they all come at this from a different skillset and standpoint. And you have to connect with all of them. You have to be able to touch each of them individually and make a connection. I always felt it was incumbent on me to make the best contact with agents. I would encourage agents to do the same with their contacts.”

Segal on getting started: “I went to law school at George Washington with the idea of being a product liability lawyer. Back then, being a sports agent was very different from what it is today. I didn’t know what an agent was. So I went to law school and got a good job at a great law firm, but it was kinda boring. So after a year, I quit and moved into my mom’s house. While I decided what to do, I parked cars for a while, made some money, and then printed up some business cards. One day, I read an article on Bob Woolf, an agent at the time, and it sounded cool, and that was it. I started cold-calling around, and I got hung up on a million times. Finally, I met Brad Baxter, because he was training next to my law school, and we hung out, and when he graduated, he signed with me. He was an 11^th round choice out of Alabama State.

If there’s one thing new agents always ask me, it’s this: how do I ask an established agent the hard questions about the business that no one wants to answer? I’ll admit it’s one question for which I have no answer. That’s why it was pretty awesome when, out of the blue, Chicago-based Mike McCartney of Priority Sports reached out to me last week and offered to answer questions from agents in a Zoom session.

This was a real coup. As the son of a legendary former college head coach, Mike is not only a member of football royalty, a former NFL scout himself, and the man who negotiated one of the most lucrative contracts in NFL history, but a 20-year contract advisor and member of a top NFL agency (by our metrics, Priority has been the 11th-best agency on draft day since 2007). When, last Friday, we put the word out that we’d be hosting a Zoom session with Mike on Tuesday, we had immediate responses from almost 20 agents. We thought we might have to turn some down (though we ultimately did not).

We chose not to record the session so Mike would feel fee to provide ultimate candor. However, here are a few nuggets from the hour he spent with 17 mostly new NFL agents.

• The key to success as an agent is signing players that NFL teams want. It follows that knowing NFL scouts who will recommend players is critical, so it made sense agents would ask Mike about that. Predictably, he didn’t have a ‘magic bullet’ solution. The only way that I, personally, made friends in the scouting world is two ways: time and credibility. Mike essentially echoed that. I guess, if you’re a new agent, your job is to find 1-2 players in your first years on the job that somehow crack the NFL scouting bubble. Once you are somewhat proven to scouts, they’ll begin to have a more reciprocal relationship with you.
• Another thing Mike was adamant about: never lie to scouts. He said that if he has a client who’s not fast, he’s not going to try to convince teams the player can zoom. Instead, Mike will emphasize his client’s positive qualities. God knows one of the themes of the 2020 draft season has been the questionable times posted on social media.
• If you can’t sign a player with excellent triangle numbers, find a player who has heart and grit. In 2002, his rookie year as an agent, Mike signed a quarterback out of Sam Houston State, Josh McCown. McCown was a player who had transferred to SHSU from SMU for his senior season and lit things up, but he was still mostly an unknown. Mike badgered the head of National Football Scouting at the time, Duke Babb, to let McCown be one of the passers who throw the ball in drills at the combine, and Babb consented. On the last day of the combine, defensive backs were going through drills, and the three passers needed to heave 80 deep balls as part of the drill inventory. For whatever reason, the other two quarterbacks begged off, so McCown threw all 80. Babb was so appreciative that he flew McCown home first class, and he wasn’t the only one that took notice: McCown went from a probably UDFA to a third-round pick (3/81) by the Cardinals.
• Speaking of UDFAs, Mike has a very regimented process he goes through with his clients who are Day 3 guys. He essentially prepares them for the worst-case scenario (that they are “eighth-round picks”) and sets up the NFL in three tiers: 4-5 teams that are the absolute best fits for his client, a second group of teams that are good-but-not-great fits, and a third that includes the rest of teams. He then gets on the phone with scouts from his top-tier teams and makes sure he’s on the same page with them as far as his client’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the team’s depth chart at the player’s position.
• Also: he said that a GM or scout who wants your client isn’t nearly as good as a coach who does. Mike even said that, during the post-draft UDFA process, he has asked scouts to walk down the hall and specifically ask the team’s position coach if he wanted his client. If the coach seemed lukewarm, he passed on signing with the team. He said it’s absolutely essential that your client’s position coach is excited about coaching your client.
• As far as this draft, he sees most Day 3 picks as long shots to make teams, to say nothing of the UDFAs. Think about that. Due to the uncertainty and probable lack of rookie camps this year (and spare number of physicals), teams will lean more toward veterans and the best of the best draft picks on cutdown day this fall. I’d agree with him. It’s just one more reason it’s incredibly hard to be a new agent this year.

We’ll talk more about Mike’s words of wisdom in this week’s Friday Wrap, which you can register for here. Happy Draft Day!

This week, we take a break from the series by guest blogger Donovan Martin of Donovan Mental Performance to look at the changing industry. I can boil it down to three texts I’ve received in the last seven days, all from veteran agents who’ve represented big-name players and who know the industry top to bottom.

I’ll provide their texts and then a little context and perspective.

• “I’ll never forget one of my first clients, a PFA-type kid from Coastal Carolina, got in a car accident a month before the draft and my firm repped him on the soft tissue bodily injury case. We made more money off a minor, run-of-the-mill fender bender with that kid than we ever did in football with him.”

I provide this really more for comedy relief than anything else. This text comes from one of the most devoted contract advisors certified in the last five years. He’s smart, driven, and has resources, but in today’s system, often, that’s not enough.

• “A player called me about representation. He asked about training – told him no. He called back and asked me if there are places that will arrange a loan for training and housing.”

This text gives you insight into the perception of so many players, especially fringe prospects, that combine prep can turn them into overnight first-rounders. Desperation is part of being young sometimes, but for a young man to take on a $20,000 to $30,000 loan on a million-to-one shot is a failure of so many people close to him who should know better. This misperception is almost solely social media-driven.

• “This rookie business sucks as is…really from the top down. First-rounders, you have to damn near pay them what you are going to make off of them. Then you have Day 3 guys have the nerve to request stipends. The day I pay a Day 3 guy a salary for 4 months to sign with me is the day hell freezes over.”

In its zeal to make life better for players, the NFLPA has stayed largely out of the fray as the signing chase has become an arms race. I get it; it’s a volatile sport, so let players take advantage of the market. At the same time, this has taken a dramatic and tragic toll on the “middle class” of veteran agents who are extremely connected and knowledgeable, but don’t have endless resources. At the end of the day, signing should be about sound counsel, not cash. In my opinion, it’s a pretty short-sighted position that the Players Association has taken.

If you aspire to be an agent, consider these texts and make sure you’ve read previous posts here about the state of the business. If you’re a coach or work for a college team, make sure you’re providing your players with mature counsel. If it’s your son who’s trying to get to the league, make sure you’re thinking about the best for your son, and don’t be afraid to tell him some hard truths.

If you’re part of any of these groups, and you need to know more, or need help communicating these lessons to a prospect, please reach out to us.

With the results of this summer’s NFLPA contract advisors exam disseminated, dues paid and liability insurance policies purchased, the Players Association is slowly adding the names of newly minted contract advisors to its website. That means about 100 people being added to the NFL agent ranks are asking, what do I do now?

We field a lot of those questions. In fact, we’ve been answering them for our subscribers over the past two weeks with Monday emails. Here’s one from Sept. 30, in which we discuss the benefits and challenges of trying to join a big firm. Last Monday, we discussed how to get started on recruiting, and this Monday, we’ll talk about the practice of representing college and NFL coaches.

Today, we’re answering another one. One question we always get from new agents is how they can find out who to recruit. The bigger question is, how do they approach scouts to locate the sleepers that they have a shot at singing? With that in mind, we decided to pose this question to new agents: How long did it take you to develop relationships with scouts? How long was it before you could ask scouts questions about players and expect a reasonably timely, reasonably candid response?

Here are some of the responses we got back:

• “Completely random scouts? I’d say my first draft cycle. I had (a big-school client) go to the combine, so some scouts reached out, and then I was able to create a friendship with them. It was really a year-by-year process . . . You can go up to random scouts at all-star games and introduce yourself and push your guy, but the chances of them ever picking up your call or answering your texts in a timely fashion after that on a consistent basis is slim. . . I’d be lying if I said I didn’t make new connections with scouts every single year, and I don’t see that really changing, especially with all the turnover in scouting departments today.”
• “Like 3-4 years. They don’t tell you (anything) until they know you are legit and get quality clients.”
• “My feel personally is . . . whatever time it takes to sign a couple guys that the scouting community realizes, ‘OK, you’ve got a little feel for what you’re doing, a little credibility, and it’s worth me having a conversation about who you’re looking at, who you might be recruiting, who you’re close to signing’ . . . you can almost always get a brief conversation rolling with a scout at some point.”
• “I had one or two my first year that were nice enough to talk to me, but the network of scouts I talk to now has taken me years to develop.”

These aren’t the only responses we got. In fact, one of our friends in the agent community used the question to discuss a significant (and costly) way he’s seen new contract advisors be exploited by opportunistic scouts.

You won’t want to miss their comments, and you don’t have to if you register for our weekly Friday Wrap. You probably already have, but just in case you haven’t, now’s your chance to sign up. You’ll be among 5,000 people across the football industry who receive our review of the week in the game as it pertains to the business. If you haven’t already, please join us.

If you read this blog regularly, you know we talk a lot about the challenges and difficulties of being an NFLPA-licensed contract advisor these days. I talk to agents every day who lament the issues they face on a daily basis, and they often wonder if it’s all a waste of time.

That’s why I was really surprised to learn that at least four people — Andrew Brandt, Alexis Cobb, J.I. Halsell and Adam O’Neil — had gotten re-certified after previously spending time representing players. Given the difficulties in the business and the balkanization of the agent class, I wanted to find out what brought them back, so I reached out to them. The following is a brief overview of their experience in the industry and why they chose to return.

• Phoenix-based Halsell surprised me when he told me he was leaving Priority Sports in 2014 and getting out of the game. He had enjoyed success, having worked for the league office in the early ’00s, followed by two years with the Redskins in their cap department and a good run with Priority, one of the better agencies. Then again, he didn’t leave the business entirely: he maintained his own salary cap website, did media appearances, and of course worked with Chargers OT Russell Okung as a consultant on two contracts. For that reason, it’s true when he says “I didn’t really completely leave the agent business. In addition to working with Okung, I consulted several certified contract advisors on contract negotiations during this time. Given that experience and the connections i’ve made during that time, it made sense for me to get recertified and use my skill set on my terms.” 
• Pittsburgh-based Cobb dropped her certification in 2014, but like J.I., she didn’t really leave the business, instead focusing solely on coaches. She has since built up her firm, ASC Executive Group, to represent several rising college coaches, and she said she’s smarter and more established this time. “I decided to represent athletes again because I felt my coaches division . . . was strong and I didn’t need to devote all my time to it. Therefore, I could really refocus my energies on athlete representation.” Furthermore, she has “learned lessons that I can avoid when I was a young agent. Now, I can work smarter for my guys with much more understanding rather than being inexperienced.” 
• Orlando-area attorney O’Neil got certified in 2013, but dumped his certification three years later. He said that, since then, he got a chance to strengthen his law practice, but the itch to represent NFL players never left, so he’s back. “I spent a couple years off and worked on my firm and infrastructure to put myself in a much better position . . . I never truly wanted to leave, but with the extra challenges added, I (knew I) wouldn’t stay afloat for long,” he said. “I’ve put myself in a much better position to be able to not only chase my own dream but to make sure players can continue chasing theirs.”

Want even more thoughts on the business, its shortcomings, and how to succeed in it, regardless of what role you’d like to play? Start off by registering for the Friday Wrap. You can do that here. It’s free, and you’ll be among 5,000 people across the business who receive it every week.

On Wednesday, I first started getting texts and emails from the people who’d used our practice exams and study guides before taking the 2019 NFL Agent Exam, and they were excited — they’d passed the test.

“I couldn’t have made it without ITL! I’m forever grateful,” said one. “Without your guide and newsletters, I would have been lost entering the seminars,” said another. “I could not have done it on the first try without you and ITL,” said a third. There were plenty more, which is one reason why the day results come out is such a special time for us here at ITL.

Of course, after a few days, the euphoria wears off and the reality of actually signing and working with NFL players begins to become a worry, and maybe even a concern. That’s natural, but no less daunting.

Having worked with new agents since ’02, we get it. For those members of the ’19 agent class who are wondering what’s next, here are a few words of wisdom.

• Take time to celebrate: We’ve been told it took 48 correct answers (out of 60) to pass this year. At 80 percent, that means either the test was a little easier than usual or test-takers just did better than in previous classes. We prefer to believe the latter. Either way, you’ve accomplished something that most people don’t, so give yourself some credit.
• Swing for the fences: You’ve done a bold thing by pursuing certification. Don’t stop now. For many, the temptation is to play it cool; many new agents don’t even recruit in their first year certified, which is insane given that you only get three years to land someone on an NFL roster. I encourage you to go for it.
• Don’t seek salvation: For many agents, the goal is to find a mega-agency willing to hire you. While this seems tempting, the reality is that no firm is interested in looking at you unless you have proven yourself. If you’re a new agent, no matter how hard-working or earnest you are, the big agencies are not going to look at you.
• Study the business: The temptation when you get certified is to lean heavily on the contacts and network you already have. Remember: there’s more information out there today than there ever has been, about which players get an NFL chance, about the backgrounds of people in NFL scouting and administration, about the players in the most recent draft, who represented them and who trained them. This is your rookie year; learn not just by doing, but by studying. It will serve you well in Year 2.
• Understand that you’ll pay a price: Like anything else worth accomplishing, you will have to use resources to experience even a modicum of success. Maybe that’s money. Maybe that’s time. Maybe that’s your pride. Chances are, it will be all three. You have to be careful about making sacrifices, but you’ll have to do it, even if you have dozens of friends in the business. Accept that.

One other piece of advice I’d recommend is that you join us at Inside the League. Maybe you used our exam prep materials to get you through the test; maybe you’ve read our book about the NFL Draft process; maybe you’ve only heard of us on Twitter; or maybe you’ve read our blog for a while now. If any of those apply to you, it will be worth it for you to have access to our site. Even more than that, however, we’ll be starting our annual series, the ITL Rising Contract Advisor Newsletter, in November. If you’re part of ITL, you’ll get our Monday-through-Thursday emails that serve as a sort of tutorial on the business. You can only get that if you’re an ITL client.

Then again, maybe you need to learn more first. To do that, we recommend subscribing to our weekly newsletter, the Friday Wrap. You can register for it here. You can check out last week’s episode here.

Today, if last year is any comparison, the people who took the NFL agent exam in July will find out if they passed or failed. While almost half of those who took the exam will get good news, many others won’t. Still, given the odds of achieving real success in the business, maybe those who don’t make the cut are the real winners.

Consider the following grid. We went back to the first contract advisor class certified by the NFLPA under the new CBA, negotiated in 2011. What we found is that those who aspire to be the next Rosenhaus, Segal or Condon have a pretty tall mountain to climb.

It should be noted that the agent exam became sharply harder in 2015, which explains how the number of contract advisors certified dropped from 176 in 2014 to just 75, at least by our totals, in 2015. It’s also worth noting that the three-year rule (which is explained in the body of this article) apparently cuts class size by about 20 percent if the 22-point drop between 2016 (which has not yet faced the three-year cutdown) and 2015 (which has) is any indication.

This grid caps a week of surveying the industry, looking at who’s having success and who isn’t, and considering the challenges that face the business. In the last seven days, on our flagship site, we posted a list of every contract advisor with at least 10 active clients as of this month (and included each agent’s firm and certification year, for the first time); took a look at all 12 players who made agent changes in the June-to-July time frame (including one player who’s been represented by three firms though he’s only played 28 games since being drafted in 2015); and also listed the 21 who made changes during the July-to-August term. Apparently, they were the procrastinators who wanted to put off hard business until immediately before camps started.

We’ll be making observations and digging into these numbers (and much more) in today’s Friday Wrap. As you know, it’s a weekly overview of the football business that goes out to about 5,000 people across the industry every week, and of course, it’s free. Here’s a look at last week’s edition.

If you’d like to register for the Wrap, do it here.