Category Archives: Agents

The Life

06 Wednesday Jan 2016

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On Monday, I was talking to a financial advisor who’s new to the business, but not new to football. In fact, he’s an NFL veteran who played at a school known not only for abundant talent but flashy players.

We were talking about the next couple months and how to approach potential clients, balancing the excitement of a career in the NFL with the sobriety that’s necessary when you suddenly come into a windfall of cash. Paraphrasing my friend, he expressed frustration with what’s ahead. “It’s just so hard,” he said. “It’s the life.”

The Life. It’s the gigantic hidden elephant that no one talks about these days when discussing the problems that face young players.

How do you caution a young player to save his money when the guy in the next locker is bragging about the shiny new car he just bought? How do you pull in the reins on a kid who’s former teammates are posting pictures of wild parties in splashy hotels on Instagram? When he’s been worshipped all his life for his athletic prowess, how do you counsel a young man that there won’t always be a happy ending, especially when it comes to money?

It’s a question that everyone in the game must answer. In fact, I’d argue that scouts have two questions to answer of each player they evaluate. No. 1: Can they play? No. 2: Do they love the game, or do they love the life?

This question has become particularly relevant this week as we’ve seen the Browns try a new tack and go all-out for analytics. Unlike baseball, football is a game where emotion and personality come into play far more than in baseball, a game that demands more consistency and less explosiveness.

Kudos to the Browns for trying something new, though there will be no shortage of critics if things don’t work out. To me, the success of their analytics approach will hinge on whether or not they can find an algorhithm that measures a player’s temperament and psychology equal to his tendencies on the field. Because whether it’s what takes place between the lines or in the places where players go afterwards, the life of an NFL player is more volatile, more electric, more unpredictable than most analysts can handle.

Paying Players

30 Wednesday Dec 2015

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This time of year I hear a lot of charges that Agency X ‘pays players.’ In fact, a couple years back, one of my better friends in the business told me he had lost all respect for a rival firm because he found out they ‘paid players.’ This surprised me until I realized what my friend meant.

It’s common to believe that all top NFL draft prospects are being paid under the table, Josh Luchs style. This is way off, of course, though I’d estimate that probably a third of the players slated to go in the first three rounds this spring are getting some form of illegal inducements. Thing is, all inducements are not created equal.

Here’s what’s illegal: any form of cash, money order, check, or promise of same to a player or his immediate family. Also, any gifts that have a cash value. Any cash value. I always tell the parents of players that I work with (usually about a dozen for each draft class) not to accept so much as a bottle of water or a car ride from an agent. Both have an assigned value. They probably won’t get a player in hot water, but it’s not worth the risk.

Here’s where things get tricky, and where agents are charged with ‘paying’ a player when they really aren’t. Paid training (which is standard for any worthy prospect), especially at one of the top combine prep firms. A monthly stipend. A signing bonus. A marketing guarantee of any kind. Any form of residential housing during training. In essence, when an agent charges another agent with ‘paying’ a player, he’s really saying the other guy was willing to invest more in the client than he was. There’s nothing wrong with this as long as the player is already done with his college career. In the overwhelming majority of cases, all payments take place then.

Here’s another sticky example. Today I was told by an agent that one top prospect’s parents are in bad health, and living on a monthly government stipend. He insinuated that the player’s parents had been taken care of by his agent months before any signed deal took place. Again, this would be illegal only because it was initiated before his career ended. If an agent was willing to do this after the player finished his college career, more power to him. But I’m sure rival firms would still make an accusation that the player was “paid.”

Anyway, if you get into this business, one thing you’ll often hear is that someone got paid off. Take this with a grain of salt.

A QB’s Dilemma

22 Tuesday Dec 2015

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I’m working with the family of a QB who’ll be part of the ’16 draft class, and I had a long conversation with his father today. I thought his perspectives on the coming draft, and what concerns he has for his son, were interesting, and I thought they shed a lot of light on the decision-making process. Without providing specifics that would give the young man away, here are a few observations on our discussion.

  • Marketing is a major concern: We talked at length about the marketing situation that faces his son. As we recounted in last week’s blog post, quarterbacks, receivers and running backs are really the only three positions where a player can make considerable off-the-field money. For this reason, the father is seriously weighing the value of splitting off his son’s marketing work to a firm that specializes in it (normally it’s something that the contract advisor is left to do).
  • What can an agent do?: There’s a perception, especially among lower-rated players, that an agent can get a player drafted much higher than he would without a good agent. Is that true? Yes and no. However, one thing that a good agent can do is get his client to the highest-rated all-star game available, and if the Senior Bowl is attainable, that’s big. That’s a major issue for my friend.
  • Coaches are a major influence: I already beat this drum pretty hard already in this space, but when it comes to the major draft prospects, it’s rare that there’s not some coach offering (usually unsolicited) advice. Some of the coaches have the player’s best interests in mind, but some are getting some form of compensation from interested parties. The hard part is figuring out who’s up to something and who’s trying to help.
  • Training decisions are tricky: When it comes to quarterbacks, release and footwork are critical, and the wrong trainer can come in and try to rework things, just to put their own spin on things. That’s why finding a QB coach who is willing to yield on some things but be forceful and stern on others is pretty important.

Real Talk on Pre-Draft Marketing

17 Thursday Dec 2015

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One thing I’ll admit I don’t know about the pre-draft process is the marketing side of things. With that in mind, I asked a friend in the business (who asked to remain anonymous) to give me a few pointers on the business for the benefit of draft prospects and new agents.

Today, he’ll discuss the pre-draft process solely. The following is what he provided:

Over the last 10-15 years, the NFL has seen an explosion in the marketability of its athletes. For many incoming rookies, especially at the skills positions (QB, RB and WR), marketing money can heavily subsidize or even supersede a rookie’s base salary. However, for many players coming into the league thinking they will make substantial money off the field, their rookie season can be a shocking reality check. Players are faced with many complex decisions and need to remember a few key things when considering how to capitalize on marketing opportunities.

Here are a few tips.

  • Choose the right marketing representative and choose one early: Marketing is primarily about relationships, and you want a marketing rep who has experience — a lot of relationships — and time to foster and grow your potential marketing relationships. For marketable players, many can make money immediately following the expiration of their college eligibility, and in some cases, that money will go away if not earned quickly. Once drafted, every NFL player is forced to sign a general licensing agreement (GLA) with the NFL Players Association that essentially signs over the player’s marketing/licensing rights to the NFLPA. A good marketing rep will know when a player should sign the GLA and which marketing opportunities to take advantage of prior to signing the GLA.
  • Consider hiring a marketing agent: The job of a marketing agent and a contract advisor are two very different ones. Contract advisors are used to dealing with teams, a situation in which decision-makers are well known, player contracts are a business necessity, contract details are public information, and there is a salary cap structure, including salary minimums in place. Because this is a rather involved situation, many contract advisors are simply not equipped with the experience or time available to devote to marketing. The marketing business is different. There, decision-makers are hard to locate, contract details are protected by non-disclosure agreements (and are not public information), player market value is extremely subjective (no salary structures or minimums), and athlete endorsements are definitely not a business necessity. Many of the most marketable players in the NFL keep their agent work and marketing separate for this reason.
  • Don’t get tied down: There are a couple situations that can complicate your career if you’re not careful. In some cases, agents or agencies will try to entice players by using marketing advances, which can be tied to money reimbursement or binding contracts that are difficult to escape and which can be harmful to players. Also, at times, agencies will leverage the marketability of their best players to enhance the marketing value of others, damaging the value of their best players. It is very important that when deciding on a marketing rep, you make sure your rep is dedicated to maximizing your marketing potential.
  • Get informed: It’s also important to educate yourself on realistic marketing opportunities. Skill-position players are going to make the most money off the field as rookies, primarily on trading card and memorabilia deals, while non-skills position players are going to have to be proactive and patient. For some players, trading card and memorabilia money will be the only marketing opportunities they have as a rookie, and can be quite lucrative. One of the most important things a rookie can do to maximize the money he makes off the field is to sign your trading cards and return them on time. In addition to trading card and memorabilia deals, there will be a few opportunities for certain players to initiate partnerships with shoe companies, NFL sponsors, team sponsors and other regional companies.

 

An Open Letter to the Bubble Draft Prospect

15 Tuesday Dec 2015

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Every year, I work with dozens of players that are draft hopefuls and/or their parents. Some are top prospects and some are much lower rated. Some get the unique situation they are in, and the effort it will take to get to the next level. On the other hand, some seem to think it will all take care of itself, and that time is on their side.

Today, I want to address the player who hopes to be drafted, but knows in his heart it’s a long shot, and furthermore, knows just getting to an NFL camp will be a challenge.

First of all, there’s no shame in being a fringe draft prospect. You are already well ahead of most football players out there, and even though all those around you have already seen you as a future NFL star, there will be no shame if you don’t make it. That said, I think there are some mistakes that you can avoid this time of year that will help your cause. I’ll list them here.

  • We’re a little less than three weeks away from the unofficial/official start of combine prep for the 2016 NFL draft. It’s not a big deal if you wind up training somewhere other than a splashy, sun-drenched facility. But it’s very important that you take steps in the next 10-15 days to have a plan for training, no matter where that is.
  • You may have gotten minimal interest from agents this year, far less than you were expecting. You may be hurt or angry, but don’t let that stop you from aggressively finding representation in the next week or two. Some big-name players may put off selecting an agent, but you don’t have that luxury. You need someone working for you right now.
  • Avoid the temptation to look at the next four months as a time when you might prove you can’t play in the NFL. You don’t have that luxury. You need to look at the next 120 days as an endless audition. You’ve got to move past the 10-15 players at your position that are in the same boat you’re in. If you don’t, there’s a chance you don’t get into a camp.

Now for a brief plug. You are very close to doing something very cool in life that few get to do. I realize that in 2015, there’s a perception that anything worth finding is available for free on the Internet. Well, that’s not true. The highly detailed, highly nuanced counsel associated with helping someone get into the NFL is something that only ITL does. We are not an agency, but we will help you get the kind of agent you need as soon as possible. It’s a critical part of the process for you. We’d love to help.

Best wishes to you. I hope you have the best of luck this spring, and that one way or another, your dreams come true.

Good luck!

Neil Stratton and everyone at ITL.

Do Injuries Count in Evaluation?

19 Thursday Nov 2015

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A couple years ago, I worked with a few scouts in an attempt to develop an independent ‘pro’ scouting service that would contract with NFL teams to evaluate free agents before the signing period begins. It never got off the ground, but during my research, I found out that there’s a theory in the pro game that injuries are not a strictly ‘bad luck’ proposition. I found there’s a school of thought that bad players are injured more often.

This idea gained traction last spring when I was interviewing ex-scouts ahead of the ’15 draft. One of them said you have to be careful when signing offensive linemen in the undrafted free agent period because if you’re not careful, you bring in players (especially offensive linemen) that aren’t strong enough to play. They get pushed around, might fall into the feet of your veterans, and incur knee and ankle injuries unnecessarily.

It came up again Wednesday when my podcast-mate, agent Justin VanFulpen, talked about the regular injuries that Eagles QB Sam Bradford, a former No. 1 pick, has suffered consistently in his NFL career.

To find out if this is a growing sentiment, I reached out to several friends in scouting. I asked, “Is it fair to say that bad players get hurt more often? When a player consistently misses large parts of the season, is that an indication his skill level is lacking?”

Here’s the response I got:

  • “Not necessarily. Usually, it’s injury-prone or lack of mental and physical toughness to play through pain.”
  • “No. (Texans No. 1 pick Jadeveon) Clowney (was a) great college player, hurt in the pros. (Stuff) happens. Lot of bad players are real healthy. They don’t hit. Or take a lot of hits and are healthy.”
  • “I would not say skill level. Sometimes (it’s) bad luck, but sometimes if it’s always always a knee or shoulder, they are just built differently and it is physics. But sometimes it shows prep work and heart, like (Bills WO) Percy Harvin.”
  • “Each player is independent.”
  • “Never made that connection. Beats me. Are bad soldiers the ones who get wounded? . . . I’m not good at thinking beyond the obvious.”

Looks like the ‘bad players are injured more than most’ school of thought is pretty poorly attended. That’s good news. It didn’t make much sense to me, either.

 

 

 

Draftable?

17 Tuesday Nov 2015

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One of the questions I always get from my newer agent clients is, “I’ve been talking to Player X” — sometimes they actually say Player X, because they want to keep the identity confidential — “but he wants training, and I don’t know if he’s worth it or not. Should I sign him? What do the scouts tell you?”

Before I go any further, let me mention that I addressed this question in a somewhat different way in August. The difference is that last time, it was aimed more at players trying to determine if they had NFL promise.

First of all, let’s address the scouts part. Scouts are notoriously cryptic about players that are outside the top 100 projected picks. Actually, in my experience, most scouts give you one of two responses when you ask them about a player (especially before January). If the player is expected to go anywhere in the first three rounds, the response is usually, “He’s a good player. He could be an early pick.” Note that the agent doesn’t make any real predictions, because so much could happen at the combine/pro day. On the other hand, if the player is expected to go anywhere after the 100th pick, it’s usually, “He’s a late-rounder, probably, or a camp guy.” They don’t get a lot more specific than that, and I understand, because there’s so much that could happen between January and May.

For this reason, I’ve devised three very quick, very cursory guidelines on guessing if a player has a legitimate chance to go to camp (and maybe even get drafted in the latter rounds):

  1. Was the player highly productive, accomplished and decorated in college?: Even players from small schools will pique the interest of scouts if they’ve been on numerous all-conference teams and started for several seasons. Often, an agent will ask me about a kid that only started infrequently or was hurt almost his whole career. Those players get drafted late sometimes, but it’s not worth the risk.
  2. Is the player at least 6-feet tall?: Used to, receivers, running backs, linebackers and defensive backs could get away with being 5-8 or 5-9. Really, the only players still in play on draft day that can get away with that today are running backs. What’s more, a player who’s tall and skinny can’t be ruled out automatically, either. Many training facilities can put 10-15 pounds of muscle on a slender player in 6-8 weeks. One note: obviously, offensive linemen and defensive linemen usually need to be well over 6-0.
  3. Does the player have obvious speed?: This one is a lot harder to judge, and very often, even NFL scouts don’t have a reliable 40 time on a player. Great example: Arkansas QB Matt Jones entered his senior season in 2004 seen as a very raw passer with some athleticism, but probably a 4.8-4.9 speed guy. For whatever reason, he didn’t time on ‘junior day’ for the Hogs, and his speed was estimated. Then he goes to the combine and runs a sub-4.4 40 (4.37) at 242 pounds, and suddenly, he’s the toast of the 2005 draft class. He never transitioned smoothly to receiver in the NFL, but the point is, speed excites scouts. If a prospect runs well at his pro day, at the very least, he generates excitement among NFL teams.

Obviously, this is a rather superficial look at determining a prospect’s value on draft day, but it’s a start. More on shaking out the draft process tomorrow.

The Box

16 Monday Nov 2015

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As we wind down the college football season, I’m getting more and more calls from agents and parents on issues regarding the 2016 draft. Some are related to agent selection, and many are related to leaving early. Maybe you have similar questions. This week, I’m going to discuss these topics and the different factors associated with the topic.

Today, I got a call from a recently certified agent who’s been in talks with a redshirt junior at a major BCS school. The young man is a receiver, and my friend asked what he should tell the young man, who’s strongly weighing departing for the draft.

The first thing I asked was, does he have the ‘three legs of the stool,’ i.e., size, speed and production? The agent responded that he has two of them: he’s put up wild numbers this year, and he believes the young man has sub-4.5 speed. The only problem is that he’s well below 6-feet tall. Though that’s not a deal-breaker, it’s become an important box to check. Of the 263 receivers who opened the season on NFL rosters, 193 were 6-0 or taller. What’s more, there are only 44 receivers under 5-11 in the league, and over the last three draft classes, only 32 are under 6-feet; 19 were undrafted free agents.

It all added up to a young man who probably fits as a late-round selection and maybe a camp guy.

On the other hand, he’s got enough credits to graduate. He’s fully healthy; there’s no guarantee the same will be true this time next year (and scouts are not especially forgiving). There’s a great chance one or more of the coaches on staff will be elsewhere next season, as well as his quarterback. In other words, he’s in a box.

My friend really wants to do what’s best for the young man, but he’s in a box, too. He’s already talked to scouting sources who’ve drawn the same conclusion. He can recommend that the young man put his name in with the draft advisory board, but given the new way the board is handling reviews, it’s unlikely there will be any useful information.

If he recommends that the kid go back for his senior year, he comes across as education-oriented and well-meaning, but if there’s an injury, it may dash the young man’s chance to do something special. If he encourages the receiver to leave early, he may look like the stereotypical greedy agent if he goes undrafted.

Unfortunately, many young men are facing a similar dilemma. There’s no clear, cut-and-dried answer. That’s what makes this time of year so difficult.

This week, we’ll discuss the factors one must use to make this decision. We’ll discuss the factors one must consider when seeking feedback from scouts, coaches and family members, and we’ll handle other questions we get via Twitter or in the comments section of this post. If you know someone facing this dilemma, I hope you’ll encourage him to check us out this week.

 

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.

WSW: A Little Help From His Coach

21 Wednesday Oct 2015

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Players get to the NFL in different ways. Some are obvious talents that are highly regarded by ‘Internet scouts’ as well as league evaluators, and some take less direct routes. Last week, we chronicled the story of a Saints OH Khiry Robinson, who had to wait for an all-star invite, then wait for an NFL camp tryout invite, and finally beat the odds by making the team in New Orleans.

This week, we illustrate the ‘who you know’ aspect of evaluation with another former Saints rusher, Pierre Thomas, who is the team’s all-time leader in catches by a running back. Though Thomas was never a headline-grabber during his time in the Crescent City, he was a reliable part of an explosive offense and a versatile back.

He came in through the back door with the Saints, however, with the help of a former coach. Ex-Saints scout Barrett Wiley tells the story of how the team wound up signing him as an undrafted free agent. Here’s the full interview, if you want to check it out.

“(Assistant special teams coach Greg McMahon), the position coach who coached Pierre (at Illinois had recently been hired to the Saints’ staff). . . and he knew what Pierre would bring to the table. So he knew that every day, Pierre was going to show up, (and) he was going to work as hard as he could. He was going to give his all, everything he could, and he . . . informed us that, you know, Pierre may not be the prettiest, the biggest, the fastest, but he’s going to work. At worst, if he makes the roster, he’s going to be able to contribute on special teams, because everyone has a role on the NFL team. Whether you’re a starter or a backup, you have to contribute on special teams. So with that said, Pierre came in — Pierre was a need position – an (undrafted free agent) after the draft and he became that running back who just blossomed into a solid borderline starter and a contributor for the Saints. He was a guy who showed up every day, did everything, you know, just whatever his deficiencies were, he overcame them. That’s the best way to describe Pierre. I can’t say anything negative about him. He can’t break an 80-yard run; that’s his only negative if you think about it. But everything else he does, he does well and you can live with it.

“The coach would start to talk him up a lot . . . leading into the draft . . . like that Thursday, Friday (before draft weekend). He would come down (to talk to the scouts), and say, ‘I got a guy.’ He would come to the draft room and say, ‘I got a guy, (and) wherever he may be on the board, when we need a running back, I got a guy.’ One of those situations. The coach, he’s putting his neck on the line for that guy in terms of, from his evaluation standpoint, not his true livelihood, but just his evaluation standpoint. So the coach said, ‘hey, I got a guy,’ and we went with that. The area scout watched him, and said, ‘well, it depends on what you want, but I wouldn’t have a problem with that, I wouldn’t fight against that.’ (It was) one of those situations.”