Earlier this week, we talked about how so many players are infatuated with the trappings of playing in the NFL, maybe moreso than they are with actually wearing the uniform and taking the field. We also talked about how it’s a rather politically incorrect topic, though no less true. But let’s make another point. ‘The Life’ isn’t just something players are pursuing.

Here are a few examples.

• I meet young people all the time who are college-aged or immediately past college and looking around for what they’re going to do in their life. If they get my business card, or the subject of what I do comes up, they almost always ask me if I take interns. I then ask for them to email me, just to see if they actually follow up. They almost never do.
• The room where the NFLPA provides its agent exam every year in D.C. is always crowded with 200-300 people. You will see people from every walk of life and demographic there. Black, white, Asian, Hispanic. Men and women. Old and young. All of them are spending $2500 to take a test that will allow them to pursue a business that the overwhelming majority know nothing about.
• I was just talking to a longtime friend in the financial industry who’s been communicating with a player rated in the first round for more than a year, walking with him through the process, taking his calls, answering his family’s questions, etc. He’s ready to walk away from the young man because nobody — none of the agents recruiting him, none of his coaches, and not even his parents — are willing to tell him no. There are simply no limits put on him whatsoever. Even the members of his family are unwilling to buck this young man, fearful they’ll get on his bad side and miss out on being part of ‘The Life.’

To me, the reason people are willing to do almost anything for a taste of ‘The Life’ is partially due to fantasy football. When a first-year agent signs his first client, it’s fun to share his excitement, but often the mindset is, ‘now I’m in the game! Now I have a real piece of the action. I’m in the league now.’

To some degree that’s true, but at the end of the day, this job is commission sales. Whenever I approach a financial advisor considering getting in the game, my first question is, are you comfortable recruiting someone you don’t know? Are you comfortable getting told, ‘no?’ Are you OK with chasing 22-year-olds, hoping for 30 seconds with them? If the answer is no, maybe you’re not interested in the business as much as you’re interested in ‘The Life.’

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.

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.

I’m often accused of being too blunt, too cold, too hard in this space. Well, here I go again, I guess. Today I want to talk about the 2015 NFL draft class, and I’m speaking more of all draft candidates rather than just the ones that have been chosen.

If you are a player who was draft-eligible the first weekend of May, I’m sure it was absolutely crushing if you were not selected. It’s the sudden gravity of the situation and the realization that there will be no miracles. Well, today is really the day that marks the official end of NFL dreams for members of the ’15 draft class.

How come? All but six NFL teams had their rookie mini-camps the weekend following the draft, followed by the 49ers, Chargers, Redskins, Saints, Titans and Chiefs, who worked out their new players this past weekend. At these rookie mini-camps, teams welcomed mainly draftees, undrafted free agents and tryout players.

The difference between undrafted free agents and tryout players is poorly understood, but it’s really pretty simple. While teams can only draft or sign 90 players, they can bring in as many tryout players as they want. Some teams brought in 20 or 30, though for the most part these tryout guys are strictly bag-holders, guys to take the reps so the draftees don’t get too tired. One scout I spoke to called them ‘cheap labor.’ These guys are in camp, yes, but their odds are quite long. They do make rosters sometimes, though it’s not very common. But hey, at least they got to wear an NFL helmet for a weekend.

At least 1,000 players who signed with agents didn’t even make it to a tryout. This has meaning because I’ve seen dozens of pictures of players signing SRAs, their parents beaming proudly behind them. Sometimes they turn it into an event and have cookouts built around signing with an agent. Bottom line, they feel that SRA makes them NFL prospects. Not true. Many of these folks don’t make that realization until this weekend, when camps are closed and they understand no one’s calling.

Of course, many agents get the boot around this time. This is often because the player can’t come to grips with this reality. But it’s no less true.

Let me give one last disclaimer: there are always players that are passed over in the draft and even in undrafted free agency that wind up spending at least some time on an NFL roster. Still, if you just completed your last year of college football and still haven’t heard the phone ring, I encourage you to start thinking in terms of your life’s work.

Right now, I’m working on expanding my message to new markets, and it’s funny to see how people whose agenda should be education try to marginalize it.

Here’s an illustration. In the space of two days, I’ve gotten emails from two people (one an agent, one a parent) describing how schools segregated contract advisors from the rest of the attendees at pro day. Virginia Tech and Coastal Carolina went to extraordinary lengths to keep agents from being able to watch and follow their clients, even though these clients no longer had any college eligibility!

To me, a college is talking out of both sides of its mouth when it commits to educating its players  and getting them to the next level, but limits the players’ representatives’ access to these auditions for NFL teams. Shouldn’t agents be the ones with unlimited access, while the parents and friends are restricted? This is upside-down, but I guess, then again, it’s not.

I mean, really, it’s punitive. It’s a school sending a message to contract advisors, I think. The message: you are radioactive and we will jump through every hoop to make sure you are kept at a distance. That’s childish, because it doesn’t affect a team’s big stars. It affects the players on the fringe, the ones that are scratching and clawing for any chance to make it.

Take a look at how many players have risen to NFL stardom after entering the league as undrafted free agents. They are numerous. Maybe they’d be even more numerous if schools took the attitude that we’re going to move heaven and earth to assist your agent, financial advisor, or other representative in his efforts to get you into the league. After all, the school’s going to take full credit during the recruiting process if they do make it.

Forgive the rant, but this is persistent and stupid. This time of year, I hear these stories all the time, and I wish there was something I could do about it. Maybe, slowly, someday I can.