Why This Could Be A Slow Season for Scouting Changes

04 Thursday May 2023

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As you know, serving the NFL scouting industry is something we take seriously at ITL. This time of year, there’s a lot of change, and though informing the Twitterverse of job changes gets us a lot of exposure, it’s not something we take any joy in. When a scout is dismissed, it’s hard on not just the scout, but his family, as well.

This year, we don’t see as many changes coming. Why is that? There are a few reasons.

  • In the 2020 offseason of Covid, teams pretty much froze their hiring and firing. Scouts, who normally have two-year deals, were either extended for a year or allowed to play out their contracts if they had a year left. Some were even extended two more years. That means that the last two years, many teams were clearing their decks of evaluators they may have released sooner. Last year, we saw a record amount of hiring and firing, at least since we started tracking scout employment in 2012. We counted just under 300 moves, whereas a standard, pre-Covid offseason is around 135-140. That means a lot of evaluators are pretty much in the clear until next year.
  • There’s a kind of ‘spoils system’ when it comes to scouting hires. A new GM wants to bring in people he’s worked with before so the new staff can hit the ground running. Truth be told, there’s a loyalty element to that, as well, but that’s to be expected. At any rate, when there’s a new sheriff in town, there tends to be a ripple effect on the scouting staff. However, this offseason, we didn’t see as many heads rolling in the front office, so there are fewer scouts expected to be displaced.
  • What’s more, the teams that did make GM changes (Arizona and Tennessee) are known as two of the more cost-conscious teams in the league. They’re less likely to want to dismiss scouts who are still under contract. 
  • We’re seeing expansion of scouting departments, but most of it is taking place at the executive level. Over the past two years, we’ve seen growth in the number of teams that have assistant GMs, senior personnel executives and national scouts. Much of this growth has taken place from outside scouting departments, i.e., a GM gets let go somewhere else and comes in as a team’s senior personnel executive. That doesn’t affect the number of road scouts. The only area where we’re seeing low-level scout numbers change is on teams that still have only one national scout (or, in some cases, just two). The Giants, for example, went to three national scouts, promoting Marcus Cooper. That’s just not happening frequently enough to have a big impact for scouts at the lower levels. For example, though the Southeast is vast and deep with talented schools, we’re not seeing co-Southeast scouts named for teams.

We’ll run down all the changes we’ve seen so far in Week 1 of Scout Hiring/Firing Season in this week’s Friday Wrap, which comes out at 7:30 p.m. ET every week. If scouting interests you, make sure to register for it here.

A Few Non-Draft Thoughts for Draft Weekend

28 Friday Apr 2023

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With the first round wrapped up and Day 2 kicking off Friday, here are a few non-draft items for your reading pleasure.

  • The two scouting departments where I expect the most change the soonest are in Nashville and Pittsburgh. I don’t expect top-to-bottom changes for the Titans, but I do expect new GM Ran Carthon to make some changes at the executive level; I’ve heard team ownership has even mandated it. It would make a lot of sense for him to bring in some future GMs from the Niners, though several sources tell me he’s close to Falcons Director of College Scouting Anthony Robinson and that Robinson could be headed north. As for Pittsburgh, the team is changing its scouting model to be more traditional, and is expected to continue moving in that direction, possibly through the retirements of one or more staffers.
  • Others that could make changes, based on what I’ve heard this week, are the Raiders and the Vikings. Also, the Rams and the Browns have made changes at scouting assistant (though the Browns have already replaced the one they lost). Overall, I don’t expect this to be a very busy year. The 2021 and 2022 offseason were very, very busy, so I expect teams to slow down on releasing scouts who have time left on their contracts. We also saw a lot less turnover at GM this offseason than we have in previous years, so fewer front offices will be overhauled.
  • Speaking of scouts, the week of the draft, we count the alma maters of active NFL evaluators. So which school has produced the most scouts and executives (based on undergrad degrees)? This will probably surprise you, but it’s Indiana. We counted 11 Hoosiers who are out scouring the nation for the best prospects. What’s more, it’s not even close. Three schools are tied for second place with eight grads in scouting each. They are Arizona State, Massachusetts and Temple.  
  • We also count the alma maters of coaches across the league. When it comes to the ones calling the shots on the field, the schools make a lot more sense. Southern Cal comes in first with 12, while Alabama, North Carolina, UCLA and John Carroll University, a tiny school that punches way above its weight when it comes to landing scouts and coaches in the league, each have 10.

If the scouting profession interests you, consider joining us at Inside the League. The next three weeks will be filled with buzz on who’s hiring and who’s firing in NFL front offices. Our Rep Rumblings will be chock-full of good stuff.

If you’re not sure ITL is for you, at least register for our newsletter, the Friday Wrap, where you’ll get highlights from our weekly reports and an overview of the football business. It comes out at 7:30 p.m. ET each Friday.

 

A Brief Explainer on Training Addenda for NFL Agents

20 Thursday Apr 2023

Posted by in Agents, NFL draft

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A tweet from my colleague Darren Heitner today got a lot of traction with people interested in NFL player representation, and I feel it bears some explaining, so I thought I’d use this week’s post to break down how combine prep agreements work for the lion’s share of contract advisors and their clients.

Before we go on, I think it might be helpful if you review the evolution of training options NFL agents have offered (and players have commanded) over the past 20 years. When ITL launched in 2002, there was no combine prep to speak of, but year by year, that’s changed, and today, it’s a critical part of the agent-prospect relationship.

At any rate, the standard representation agreement (SRA) that the NFLPA mandates that all agents sign with their clients makes no mention of combine training. It strictly lays out the fee agreement between a player and his representative, how the agent will bill the player and what he can bill him for, etc. Any contract advisor who’s going to offer training — and I preach this, time and again, to new agents that we work with at Inside the League — MUST set forth everything he’s offering in a separate addendum that he requires the player to sign.

It’s commonplace to think of this addendum as solely related to traditional training — that the agent will pay for 6-8 weeks of combine prep as well as lodging and food at an agreed-upon facility. However, as players’ expectations have grown to include stipends, per diems, signing bonuses, rental cars, mid-training trips back home, more well-appointed apartments, etc., those addenda (commonly called “training riders”) have expanded significantly. If you don’t have one — and if you don’t, you are really playing with fire — it’s tantamount to gambling thousands of dollars. Just ask the nearly 50 agents who’ve already been fired by their clients with a week to go until draft day.

Now, you might think an agent would be crazy to offer such training options to players who have negligible chances to even make a 90-man roster, much less play several years in the league. Well, that’s the dilemma facing every modern player representative. Do you try to hold the line on the soaring cost of simply helping a player through the draft process, knowing you’ll probably only sign players that have no NFL interest? Or do you risk large sums of money, hoping to contain costs along the way and betting that your client beats the odds and makes a roster? These are the things no one tells you as you pursue the exciting and potentially fulfilling life of an NFL agent, just as so many are these days in the months and weeks leading to July’s NFLPA exam. 

It’s easy to criticize those who are in the arena for the decisions they make. What I can tell you is, most people who get into the agent business do it for the right reasons. Often, they only fail because the economics of the game have become so upside-down. Any honest modern NFL agent — there are more than 900 of them certified by the NFLPA — will tell you it’s gotten out of hand, but there’s no easy way to fix things. 

Ask the Scout: What We Learned From Our Final New Agent Zoom of ’23

14 Friday Apr 2023

Posted by in Agents, NFL draft

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Monday night, we welcomed former Titans scouting executive Blake Beddingfield for our final monthly Zoom session aimed at rookie agents fighting to get their first-ever clients onto NFL rosters. Obviously, for the newest contract advisors, every shred of advice from good counsel matters, so Blake’s input was critical. The best part of having a seasoned former NFL exec around means learning, and that goes for me as well as everyone on the call.

This session was different because one thing Blake said was contrary to what I’ve always preached. One participant asked Blake if there was value in reaching out to all 32 NFL teams to remind them of an agent’s clients and their workout numbers, and Blake encouraged him to do so.

My approach has always been that, with the APT Coalition and the cooperation between teams on workout numbers, most scouts would see such communication as unnecessary and maybe even less than trustworthy. Blake’s take was that he’d rather have the chance to sift through all the numbers and make his own decision on what’s valid and what’s not. That makes sense, as long as contract advisors don’t get the impression they can lobby their clients onto NFL rosters. I think that’s a misconception that’s been long-held by some of the lesser prospects in each draft class. At the end of the day, there’s something to be said about making sure your client is front of mind on Saturday.

Here are a few other things we discussed that I found intriguing.

Not all teams are good at developing players, and you need to know which ones are and aren’t before you make a UDFA choice. Blake mentioned the Seahawks as a team that’s very good at making Day 3 players into stars, and that extends to UDFA signees. Indeed, Seattle got a lot of mileage out of two Day 3 cornerbacks, Cincinnati’s Coby Bryant (4/109) and UTSA’s Tariq Woolen (5/153), last year. Remember this if you’re weighing a post-draft offer from the Seahawks and a rival team.

Don’t lose hope if your client doesn’t have a home on Saturday. Rookie mini-camp invitations are not preferred, but they’re better than nothing, and sometimes they aren’t extended until Monday, Tuesday, or even later. It’s even possible a player get a UDFA offer Sunday or later.

There’s value in “accepting” an offer now, especially if it’s a rookie mini-camp invite. No one is going to be angry if your client gets a UDFA deal, but it’s OK to make a gentleman’s agreement on a rookie mini-camp nod before the draft. Of course, this is strictly illegal, so don’t tell anyone, but it happens all the time.

The $3,000 signing bonus mark is a pretty good measure of how invested a team is in your UDFA client. The real graduations, Blake said, are $5,000 or more (highly invested), $3,000 (reasonable investment) and $1,000 or less (these players are strictly a dice roll for the team and not at all expected to make the roster).

There’s a lot more to learn about the industry, and it starts with our weekly newsletter, which comes out in just a few hours. Register for it here.

Our Next New Agent Zoom on the Pre-Draft Process: What’s Ahead

07 Friday Apr 2023

Posted by in Agents, Getting started, NFL draft

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Monday night, I’ll gather with dozens of members of the 2022 NFLPA contract advisor class to discuss the critical next three weeks leading up to this spring’s draft. These sessions are always a lot of fun and, I hope, informative. The questions that get asked are always relevant to every participant. What’s more, we don’t record these sessions, so we get really honest, really candid questions, and I try to respond with similar answers.

This month’s session will be special because we’ll be joined by a special guest. Here are a few topics we’ll be covering and what’s ahead at 9 p.m. ET Monday night.

  • How do I promote my client in the next three weeks? Obviously, this is a popular question, and the answer depends on many particulars. 
  • How do I know if my client is a candidate for the draft? UDFA? How do I know if he’s not really under consideration? Most rookie agents don’t represent players who are locks to be drafted, so we’ll talk about the differing degrees of interest.
  • How do I choose which offer to take in undrafted free agency? This is where having former Titans scouting executive Blake Beddingfield as part of our staff comes in handy. Blake will give his thoughts on how to weigh offers from teams, and what their offers really mean.
  • Which teams are best at developing talent? This will be another key point that Blake will address. Knowing which teams can do more with late-round talent, and which ones are more patient than others, is key information.
  • What does Day 3 really look like? What does undrafted free agency look like? It’s a critical topic for a first-year agent, and we’ll set the scene.
  • My client had a good March and seems to be on the rise. How do I prepare him (and those around him) for worst-case scenarios? This is always a tricky topic. We’ll have tips.
  • Is there a point where it’s clear my client won’t get a camp opportunity? The post-draft singing process could last 2-3 days at times. It’s important to know who to contact (and not to contact) if you’re trying to round up opportunities.
  • What’s the difference between a UDFA signing and being invited to rookie mini-camp? This is another important distinction that we’ll discuss.

If you’re an ITL client, and you’re a first-year contract advisor, we’ll be sending out the Zoom link Monday afternoon. We hope you’ll make time to sit in and learn. However, if you’re not yet an ITL client, and think there is something to gain by joining us, we’d love to have you. All you have to do is sign up for ITL and you’re in business. 

We hope to see you Monday night at 9 p.m. ET. However, if you’re looking to learn more about the business, but you’re short on cash, you can sign up for our free newsletter, the Friday Wrap. Do that here.

A Former Giants Scout Tells His Story

30 Thursday Mar 2023

Posted by in NFL draft, Scouts

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If you’re like me, you love books that tell the stories of the people who work in the game and how they do their work. Books like Illegal Procedure; War Room; The Draft; The Dark Side of the Game; The League; Pros and Cons; Razzano: Secrets of an NFL Scout; Meat Market; Al Davis: Behind the Raiders Shield and many others are all part of my personal library. I even wrote such a book myself.

There’s a new one to add. This one is written by former Giants scout Steve Verderosa, who was part of the construction of two Super Bowl winners; helped build teams for Bill Parcells; and who was in on the selection of Lawrence Taylor, Eli Manning and many others. Any time you do something for 30 years, you’re going to have a few good stories, and though I haven’t had a chance to read the galley copy Steve sent me, I’m positive his new book will be chock full of them.

The book is called So You Wanna Be An NFL Scout, and it’s Steve’s first book about his experiences crossing the country, looking for draft prospects. I asked Steve a few questions about his decision to write it, what it took, what to expect in the pages of the book, and more. Here are my questions and Steve’s answers:

  • Lots of scouts say they’re going to write a book someday, but few do. What made you decide to write this? Is it something you always planned to do? “I never set out to write a book but I was encouraged by 2 published authors as I stated on the back cover I sent you. One was Sal Paolantonio of ESPN.”
  • Did you write down stories and try to take notes along the way in preparation for this? “I didn’t take notes but some of the stories of my travels were so vivid they were easy to recall.”
  • From the start of your career to your retirement, what’s the biggest change you saw in scouting? “For me, the biggest changes in scouting would be, first, the software. When I started, we carried around a 16 mm projector. Now the tape is high definition. Scouts carry around their iPads and the football facilities are posh and plentiful. Sometimes, we would have to watch film in a shower or locker room.
    Free agency is another huge change. 1989 was the advent of free agency; it was Plan B (free agency). Now you have salary cap (and) free agency. Teams change sometimes more than 50 percent from year to year.”
  • What’s the hardest part of scouting? “The hardest part of scouting, for me, was the time away from your family. My kids are all grown now 30, 28 and 25, but they were babies then. Growing up, you miss a lot. You can never get that back. That being said, my boys enjoyed training camps as kids, and they went to three Super Bowls. 
  • What did you enjoy least? “I probably liked the combine and the travel the least.”
  • What is the most surprising thing an aspiring NFL scout will learn from this book? “I hope an aspiring young scout can learn to ‘trust his eyes,’ do the work and have a conviction. Also, you will be wrong and will miss on a player, because we all did. Stay humble. Listen and learn from people that have been there and done that.”
  • What players appear in the pages of the book? “I talk about a lot of players but highlight (former Giants) LT (Lawrence Taylor), Tiki Barber, David Patten, Eli Manning, etc.”
  • Obviously, this will be of tremendous interest to Giants fans. What appeal is there for fans of other teams? “The book is not just about the Giants. I did spend 32 years there, but my first year in the league was with Tampa Bay. I talk about scouting systems, drafts, coaches.”

Steve’s new book is available on Amazon in hardcover and paperback as well as Kindle. Order it here.

An Opportunity for Ex-NFL Players to Stay in the Game

24 Friday Mar 2023

Posted by in NFL draft, Scouts

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For decades, the Senior Bowl has launched countless top college players it to the highest level of football, the NFL. This year, the game upped the ante by providing a platform for NFL coaches to elevate their respective games, as well. Six coaches who helped out at this year’s game are already climbing the ladder, no doubt in part due to their work in Mobile. However, those aren’t the only people benefiting from the game.

Along with The Scouting Academy’s Dan Hatman, Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy will host Scout School June 4-7 in Mobile. This year, registration is open solely to former NFL players with at least two years of playing experience in the league. In addition to an effort to give ex-players a chance to stay in the game, Jim and Dan are also helping bring more “football guys” into front offices with this endeavor.

“Jobs in scouting aren’t always easy to come by,” Nagy said. “Our hope is that we can prepare scouting prospects for the game the same way we do with players, and this year, even coaches. An ex-NFL player who’s got a good handle on what it takes to be a scout is someone who’s a great candidate to be hired.”

Jim and Dan take preparation for working in the business seriously. Among the topics they’ll cover are how a modern scouting department is built, what a scout’s lifestyle looks like, how to write a report, how to watch and grade film, even how to make a school visit (Dan and Jim lead a mock visit at nearby South Alabama). Participants also get to hear from speakers who’ve been in their shoes as ex-players seeking to get into player evaluation. Among previous guest speakers have been Lenny McGill, Raiders; Lake Dawson, Bills; Tim Terry, Chiefs; and Jeff King, Bears.

Though Scout School was launched in 2013 under Nagy’s predecessor, Phil Savage, according to this story, this year might be the best time ever to attend. The cost of registration (a $500 value) is covered this year by NFL Football Operations. Costs include coverage of the two-and-a-half-day course, plus meals, but there’s more. Participants will get the chance to be Group Leaders for the 2024 game. Group Leaders walk with the players during the week, making sure they get where they need to be and helping out as necessary. In addition, a few participants will be given a chance to spend the fall shadowing Reese’s Senior Bowl area scouts as they canvas the country. This allows participants to see, up close, what it takes to be a professional NFL evaluator. Both of these opportunities also give participants an invaluable opportunity to build their respective networks and perhaps create relationships that will lead to interviews.

“You can’t be a great player without great training,” Nagy said. “We think Scout School offers a chance to prepare for a career in scouting unlike any ever offered before. We’re excited about what’s ahead in June.”

Slots are filled on a first come, first-served basis. For more information, email srbowl@seniorbowl.com and include “Scout School 2023” in the subject line.

 

Ask the Scout: Takeaways from our Rookie Agent Zoom

15 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Agents, Getting started

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Tuesday night, dozens of our clients who are in their first year as certified contract advisors assembled for our monthly Zoom session. This time, we were joined by Bob Morris, GM of the USFL’s Houston Gamblers. Here are a few takeaways.

  • I take no joy in saying this, but it’s incredibly hard to get a small-school player into a big-school pro day, and I’d say it’s gotten harder each year over the past decade. It’s gone from “maybe we’ll let you into our pro day if your school is in our state” to “we’re gonna need at least one scout who’s attending the pro day to call and vouch for the player” to “we’re gonna need two scouts to vouch” to “we’re full.” Almost exactly a third of players signed by agents so far are from sub-FBS schools. That’s a lot of players who may not get a chance to work out for scouts.
  • If you do get a player into a pro day, there’s no guarantee he’ll get to do the entire workout. Most schools use the 40 as a weed-out drill. A slow 40 might mean game over for the entire workout.
  • There’s a perception that the USFL (and to some degree, the XFL) are easy backup plans for players who go undrafted. However, Bob made it clear that he’s looking for NFL-caliber players and not just any player who’s every put on pads before. Also, the USFL can’t take players who weren’t in the draft pool until after Week 3 of the season (around the end of April). If there are any positives, it’s that the player doesn’t have to undergo a physical or a tryout to become part of the player pool in May. The player just needs a USFL GM to ask the league’s personnel director, John Peterson, to add him to the pool. That way, all eight teams have a crack at him.
  • In the USFL, players who are brought in for a tryout are responsible for their own travel and lodging. Hey, it’s a new league. They’re trying to be smart about spending money.
  • Bob said he uses all-star appearances as a good indication of whether or not a player has even minimal appeal to an NFL team. He said he wouldn’t even consider recommending a player for a pro day if he didn’t at least participate in an all-star game.
  • There are about 1,400 players signed to standard representation agreements this year. The size of the class should be down this year. Given how many Day 3 types went back to school with tidy NIL deals, the depth in the class isn’t great. That’s good news for first-year agents whose clients are more fringe.

Next month, we’ll have our final Rookie Agent Zoom, and it’s a key session. We’ll talk about draft weekend, how to gauge interest in your client, what to do if your client goes undrafted, how to spark interest and may other topics. Especially if you’re a new agent, I hope you can join us. Sign up for ITL here, or sign up for our free newsletter here.

 

Evolution of Signing Compensation for Top Draft Prospects

08 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Agents

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Tonight, I’m joining my friend Eugene Lee of 3 Strand Sports in his sports law class. We’ll be discussing the history of compensation provided to players by agents interested in signing them for standard representation.

The following is what I came up with. Is it perfectly accurate? Probably not, but pinning all this down is not easy. I reached out to several of my friends in player representation who’ve been around for a while, and most of them generally agreed with this timeline and the various facets of compensation (don’t call them inducements) I’ve listed.

  • Prior to around 2002: We didn’t really see players offered anything to sign with an agent until about 2002. Players might train on their own, but often, an agent would go to the combine to recruit and sign players.
  • 2005: This is about when the first training packages were offered. These were pretty bare-bones. Players would be tutored on speed, but programs were far from comprehensive.
  • 2007: It was around here that training started to be somewhere away from a player’s school or hometown, and began to specialize. More importantly, it was around this time that solely training was enough to offer. We began to see no-interest loans at this time, i.e., money the bank wanted back.
  • 2009: As the new CBA arrived, agents were beginning to shift from the no-interest loan to a marketing guarantee. This was legit; it wasn’t just free money disguised as earned money. Most of the marketing consisted of trading card and other deals. Back then, it was still common for the major shoe companies (Nike, Reebok, etc.) to provide apparel to draft prospects. It didn’t last much longer, however.
  • 2012: By now, we were well into the new CBA, and agents were now operating without the promise of the gargantuan rookie signing bonuses that teams handed out to top picks pre-2009. Still, players were expecting what previous draftees had received. We saw training really ramp up (by now, most combine training was taking place in the Sun Belt) and we saw marketing guarantees swell. This is also when agencies started providing a monthly allowance to top picks (called per diems) and we started to see agents offer to bill only two percent, not three percent, to top draftees.
  • 2015: It was around here that packages really began to expand. Players were getting training that also included rental cars and, at times, splashy living accommodations. They were also getting bigger signing bonuses while per diems were also inching up. Fee cuts were becoming more common, and marketing guarantees were stacked on top of signing bonuses.
  • 2018: It was probably around this time that we were seeing four-figure per diems become commonplace. This is also when fees were beginning to be 1 point for first-rounders, 2 points for second-rounders and 3 for all others. At  the same time, this is when I started to hear of some desperate firms offering a no-fee rookie deal (the agency would make money solely on marketing until the second contract). Obviously, all the other stuff (training, signing bonus, marketing guarantee) was also on the table.

Today, we’re seeing the following:

  • Training that typically runs in the $30,000 to $40,000 range.
  • Per diems — especially for players projected in the first 10-20 picks — in the $10,000 per month range.
  • A standard one percent fee for projected first-rounders, and in many cases when a firm is truly desperate to sign a top player, no fee at all.
  • Some agencies are even beginning to offer a fee cut on the second deal, the place where firms used to get well financially.
  • Marketing guarantees are still around, though often, agencies don’t expect a lot of actual work on these, i.e., appearances, signings, social media posts, etc. 

Obviously, not everyone in the draft class is receiving this — not by a long shot. These are mainly available to only the top prospects in the draft, though many of these are becoming commonplace even to later-round players. This is true to the point where, in my opinion, many players lose sight of their important goals while trying to maximize “what they get.”

If all of this sound excessive to you, you’re not alone. “It’s the most asinine, short-sighted cannibalism in American commerce,” said one established agent of the direction the industry is taking.

A Few Thoughts on Combine Week 2023

03 Friday Mar 2023

Posted by in Agents, NIL, Scouts

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It’s been a pretty busy few days in Indianapolis. Here are a few things that stuck with me.

  • Giants Executive Scout Jeremiah Davis won the C.O. Brocato Award at the 14th annual 2023 USI Insurance Holdings ITL Combine Seminar presented by American Tens. It was special for a lot of reasons, but especially so because, for the first time, we had a member of the winner’s family join us. Jeremiah’s daughter, Chloe, filmed her dad’s acceptance speech from that audience, and she seemed to be near tears as she did. I mean, it was pretty touching. It’s exciting to be part of something like that.
  • Jack Mills won our Eugene E. Parker Award for his years as a contract advisor. Two things stick out. One, he has been an agent for 55 years! If you follow the industry, that’s like 3-4 eras of representation he’s seen. Second, when Denver-based Peter Schaffer (who assists me in selecting the award winners) told him he’d won, he bought a plane ticket the next day. So that’s pretty cool. Again, very rewarding to honor good people.
  • In our BART List balloting — which determines, by vote of active scouts and executives, the top scouts in the game — we saw four repeat winners each in both conferences. In the NFC, Tariq Ahmad (49ers), Jeff Ireland (Saints), Tokunbo Abanikanda (Falcons) and Ted Monago (Rams) won for the second straight year. In the AFC, it was Ed Dodds (Colts), Terrance Gray (Bills), Matt Terpening (Colts) and Johnathon Stigall (Jets). 
  • Our first-ever Agents and Collectives (don’t call it NIL) Summit was a smashing success. There was a tremendous amount of candor and transparency; you couldn’t help but learn. Any time you assemble a lineup of experts, you hope they won’t talk “over” people and you hope they won’t hide the inner workings of the business. We had very positive outcomes on both counts this morning.
  • One last note — it was also a lot of fun talking to the future stars of the football industry who came to Indianapolis as part of the Lynn University sports management program. I got a chance to talk to the 13 folks here in town on the value of taking risks if you’re pursuing a career in sports. I shared a few war stories and, hopefully, didn’t bore them too much. Professor Sherry Andre’s students had some good questions, and they’re obviously passionate about the industry or they wouldn’t be here.

It’s been a fun and productive week, but a pretty taxing one, too, with late nights and early mornings. It’s all part of getting out there and building your network, which is a critical part of growth and progress. If you didn’t make it this year, I hope you do next year.

We’ll have more on what took place here in non-Lucas Oil Stadium action in our newsletter, the Friday Wrap. You can register for it here.