Tag Archives: NFL Prospects

The End

30 Monday Mar 2015

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I get a lot of players and their parents who reach out to me this time of year. Many of them are seeking an agent who can help sell them to NFL teams. I tell them this week is a sort of ‘line of demarcation’ for NFL evaluation.

At this point, a draft-eligible player’s college career, all-star play and combine are long in the books. He may be working out for teams at his pro day this week, but most are done. That means there are no more opportunities to spark interest for scouts and NFL teams unless players are invited to do so. Now, some NFL teams hold their own local workouts for players who competed in high school or college in a team’s metro area, but the number of invitees is usually limited to 20-30 players, maximum.

This is why, even though I know they don’t want to hear this, I tell most players I speak to at the end of March that if they are NFL prospects, they will know it by now. They are getting calls from scouts, scheduling private workouts, getting invited in for visits, or at least getting some form of correspondence from people in personnel. If they are not, it may be time to move on.

If a player is willing to accept this and still wants to pursue his dreams, he probably needs to do something to spark new interest in his playing ability. Usually, this has to take place on the field. He has two main options. One is the Arena Football League, which started play this weekend. Arena teams are always looking for local players they can plug in when injuries strike, but they pretty much have to be local. AFL teams don’t have the budget to be able to bring in people from across the country for workouts.

The other outlet is the CFL. I generally discourage players from going to these cattle call-style open tryouts, especially before a player’s pro day, but if he has run the winter gauntlet with NFL teams and still not won anyone over, it may be time to see if there’s interest up north. Most of these workouts charge $100 (usually cash only), and there will be plenty of them all over the country in April. Most agents take a pretty dim view of these workouts because the chances of success are pretty minimal, and I’d agree with them. However, if a player makes it to the end of March without much interest from NFL teams, odds are long anyway.

Look, anything can happen, and the last thing I’d want to do is rain on a young man’s parade. At the same time, I think it’s important to be straight with people. As I always say, the NFL is not for the good, but the great, player. It’s rare for players to make it to college athletics, much less professional sports. Every young man doesn’t fit that profile, and there’s no shame in that. All you can do is give it your best shot.

Late, but not too late

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

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I spent last week in Charleston, S.C., for the second annual Medal of Honor Bowl, an all-star game that has grown significantly in stature in its brief existence as part of the pre-draft landscape. In my time there, I got to meet a young man named Jake Stenson, a slot back from the Citadel.

Jake had no representation going into game week, and when I met him, his initial question to me was, ‘will it hurt me not having an agent?’ I assured him it wouldn’t. I didn’t want him to rush into anything; in a week as important as last week was for his draft status, his primary focus needed to be on the field. After all, I figured he’d spend the week fielding queries from contract advisors anyway.

Yesterday, I got a call from Jake, telling me he was still without representation, so I offered to feature him in this space. I think it’s worth it to tell his story. If you’re a contract advisor still a little light on clients for the ’15 draft class, you could do worse than having a conversation with Jake, for a couple reasons.

  • He plays a position rising in importance in the league. Ten years ago, scouts dismissed the Wes Welkers, Danny Amendolas, Danny Woodheads and Julian Edelmans of the world as too small, too slow, and too lacking in skills to ever play in the league. Today, those receivers are on their second and third deals.
  • He’s pretty explosive. The Citadel is not, and has never been, a national football powerhouse, and isn’t seen as a fountain of grid innovation. Despite these limitations, Jake averaged 8.8 ypc last season on 68 carries. And though his duties were primarily in the running game, he pitched in seven catches last season.
  • He got to play in an all-star game. The value and importance of having such a platform as an all-star game is debatable for highly ranked, big-time players, but for the hundreds of players on the fringes of the draft, it’s usually a big difference-maker. Typically, 70-80 percent of players that go to all-star games at least wind up in camps. That’s a reasonable goal for Jake.
  • He’s not some tiny, elf-like guy. At 5-11/200, he’s got a little bulk and size to him. These aren’t the dimensions of your typical scatback.
  • His training is taken care of. If there’s one conversation I have with agents consistently in late December and early January, it’s about their frustration with prospects’ training demands. They’re often just not in line with their NFL chances. Not so with Jake. He’s the kind of high-upside, low-risk player that is rare today.

Interested in taking a flyer on Jake? Let me know at nstratton@insidetheleague.com. If you’re an ITL client, I’ll be happy to pass along his information.

Some More Deserving Candidates

08 Thursday Jan 2015

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It’s been kind of fun to use this space to help connect deserving players with agents in the last couple weeks.

So far, we’ve helped Texas State OC Charlie Will Tuttle, New Mexico OC Lamar Bratton, Winston-Salem St. DE Alfy Hill (an Alabama transfer), Idaho OC Mike Marboe and North Texas IB Derek Akunne find representation, and two more players, Rice OG Nico Carlson and FS Julius White III, are in the final decision stages. Along the way this season, we’ve also worked with the parents of Virginia Tech OG Caleb Farris, Kansas St. DE Ryan Mueller and Georgia Tech WO Darren Waller as they’ve worked through the vetting process with their sons.

We’re also working with the parents of a quarterback who’s weighing the pros and cons of entering the 2015 NFL draft. There’s nothing more rewarding then helping people make informed decisions.

If you’re an agent looking for a couple more players to add to your client list for the ’15 draft, the following Rice Owls would be solid additions. We think they’ve got at least an even-money chance of being in an NFL camp this spring, and as yet, they’re unsigned:

Mario Hull, WO, Rice: I don’t normally recommend wide receivers and defensive backs to agents because they’re a dime a dozen, but Hull is intriguing. As a redshirt freshman, he was 21st in the nation in punt return average (10.2). That’s really good, and it earned him Freshman All-American honors from The Sporting News. Injuries wiped out most of his sophomore and junior years, but he came on strong this year, averaging more than 20 yards per catch and scoring eight touchdowns. Explosiveness is what NFL teams seek in receivers, and Hull’s got it.

James Radcliffe, OB, Rice: Jim has been very productive at Rice, a three-year starter who earned CUSA Honorable Mention honors this year. He’s willing to train at school, too, but one of his most important traits is that he’s at least 6-0 (he lists at 6-1). In the modern NFL, linebackers less than 6-0 just don’t get looked at. He’s got a real shot as a special teams ace that can perhaps move into the rotation, and one of his best aspects is that he can drop in coverage and move with receivers. He’s not just a between-the-tackles banger.

Ian Gray, OT, Rice: You can’t teach size, and Ian’s got it at 6-8, 345. Here’s what’s interesting. Usually, you find a tackle that big, and you stick him on the right side, but not Ian. The Owls used him on the blind side, which really speaks to his nimbleness and ability to mirror pass rushers. He’s also got serious bloodlines, as his father (Notre Dame) and uncle (Penn State) both played big-time college football. When it comes to guys this size, and the scarcity of offensive linemen on the next level, they almost have to prove they can’t play football. I could easily see Gray coming into camp as a project and maybe riding on a team’s practice squad as a developmental player.

Interested in any of these young men? If you’re an ITL client, just let me know and I’ll pass along their contact info. It’s always a pleasure to put good people together.

Meet the Prospect: Rice FS Julius White III

26 Friday Dec 2014

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Last week, we used this space to introduce New Mexico OL Lamar Bratton, a young man who, despite plenty of on-field success, had received little to no attention from agents, mainly because he played at a remote school that had experienced limited success. A week later, he still hasn’t signed with an agent . . . but that’s because, as of Wednesday, he had spoken to three and had a couple more who wanted to meet. He had gone from a lack of agents to a glut, which is really gratifying, because all I did was to give him a small amount of recognition. So today, we’ll try the same approach with Rice FS Julius White III.

First, the negatives.

  • Julius plays a position where a major part of his draft status will depend solely on the 40 time he records at his pro day in March.
  • Julius doesn’t have freakish size (he lists at 5-11) or speed (he wasn’t a member of Rice’s track team), so he doesn’t have the kind of tools that make scouts drool.
  • He doesn’t come from a football factory and plays a position where it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. Safeties are more of a commodity than a rarity.
  • So far, Julius isn’t headed to any all-star games, which is a drawback because it hurts his ability to showcase himself for scouts.

Now for the positives.

  • Julius is a producer. He’s a three-year starter at an FBS school who’s Rice’s active career leader in tackles (with 175). He was a preseason second-team All-CUSA pick by Phil Steele. He was Honorable Mention All-CUSA this year. He’s a legitimate prospect.
  • He’s coming off a big game. In Rice’s 30-6 demolition of Fresno State in the Hawaii Bowl, Julius tied for the team lead with eight tackles and two tackles for loss against the Bulldogs. As our own Ken Moll has detailed in this space, big performances in big games matter when it comes to evaluating players. For what it’s worth, he comes up big in big games, as he had an interception in the CUSA Championship game last year against Marshall.
  • He was a high school quarterback, so athleticism isn’t a problem. Scouts always love ex-quarterbacks.
  • Though he doesn’t have an all-star invite yet, he should have an opportunity to get into a game. It will take an aggressive approach by his agent, but there’s still time to lobby one of the five games to take him.
  • As a member of an FBS team, he’ll have a pro day. This isn’t always a given when it comes to draft-eligible players, believe it or not. But you don’t have to worry about that with Julius.
  • He’s a good kid from a good family and has a future. It goes without saying that a Rice student cares about education, but Julius was Academic All-State during his high school days. His father, an ITL client, is an engineer. It will be a pleasure to work with Julius and his entire family. That’s not always something you can take for granted.
  • He’s received interest from major agents. One such agent, who represented a third-rounder in the ’14 draft, has pulled off due to a lack of resources, but the bottom line is that Julius is no secret to people in the game.

Interested in working with him? If you’re an ITL client, contact me and let’s get y’all together. Interested, but not an ITL client? Let’s get started.

Desperation

15 Monday Dec 2014

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Today, I reached out to a player whose season is over, and who’s been receiving our newsletter for draft-eligible players since November. He’s in the conversation for a camp invite, I think, and I figured he might have received an invitation to a lower-tier all-star game and/or signed with an agent, as his season’s been over for weeks. I got this response from him:

“I do not have an agent. I would assume my chances are just about gone. I will do my pro day and give it a shot. There will be plenty of scouts out there for a few other players on my team. Thanks for all the informative emails. I appreciate it. “

I immediately responded and encouraged him. He was feeling that his chances are done, that no agent interest equals no chances of playing in the NFL. That’s just not true.

If you’re reading this blog and you’re in this young man’s shoes — three-year starter at an FBS (D1) school, with plenty of conference accolades along the way — no way should you be as discouraged as he is. All is not lost. In the meantime, if you’re serious about giving the NFL a shot, there are a couple things you can do.

1. If you’re done with your season, take a break and get healed up and ready to train hard.

2. Get your film together. There’s a good chance that you’ll need it at some point, whether that be to show an agent or a scout or someone else of influence. You don’t want to be scrambling for film 24 hours before you need it.

3. Identify a place — and this could be your school — where you can work on your speed and drills. To some degree, pure strength is something you can build. Speed and explosiveness are something you can’t ‘teach,’ and they are the two things that will matter most at your pro day, your next big test in the NFL draft process.

4. Do a little research on agents local to you. At some point, you might need to reach out to them if they aren’t reaching out to you. When you do, you need to have answers to some questions (like film and training).

5. Don’t be afraid, don’t be nervous, don’t be scared. It’s not at all uncommon for players who make it into NFL camps to not sign with agents until well into January, maybe a month away. I don’t encourage you to put things off, or to take a care-free approach, but I also don’t want you to be discouraged.

If you still don’t know what to do and need some direction, contact us. Maybe we can help. But above all else, don’t get discouraged.

Here come the shoppers

28 Friday Nov 2014

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Today is Black Friday, a big event for retailers. While shoppers are out in droves across the country’s malls and stores today, there will be a different kind of shopping that begins next week.

About half of all FBS schools will wrap their seasons this weekend, bringing careers to an end for hundreds of seniors. Many of those seniors will have NFL dreams, and though not all of them are realistic, it won’t stop plenty of players from seeking representation. Given that the modern player sees hiring an agent as his first step to playing pro football, many athletes will be cold-calling local agents, pushing to be signed and, just maybe, trained on the agent’s dime.

If there’s one thing that comes as a revelation to new agents, it’s this phenomenon. Most newly certified agents, when they get to November, are still trying to figure things out. How do I find good players? How do I reach out to good players? How do I reach out to good players without getting myself in trouble? In the midst of asking themselves all these questions, they start getting phone calls from players, many with semi-impressive resumes and/or well-rehearsed stories. It’s mighty tempting for a new contract advisor to sign such players. After all, it’s exciting to get a player on an SRA. It feels like victory! It’s a landmark and an indication that an exciting new career is under way.

Only, it’s not that simple. Time is a valuable resource, and most of these players are the longest of shots. When you commit to representing (and promoting, and pitching, and maybe even training for a substantial fee) a player, there’s a certain amount of risk involved. It may or may not involve a significant amount of money, but it definitely will involve your blood, sweat and tears. This is why it’s so important, as a new agent, to know what you’re looking for, and to have a detailed plan for the players you train.

If you aspire to be an agent someday, be aware of what’s ahead this week (and the rest of the month, especially) and prepare for its eventuality. If you’re a new agent now, consider giving us a call. We can help you evaluate the players calling this month and help you decide on a plan of attack.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

War Story Weds: Desperation

05 Wednesday Nov 2014

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In my newsletter for parents of 2015 NFL draft prospects and the prospects themselves, I’ve been talking a lot about the all-star game process. How do invitations work? When do they come out? Who are they sent to? What if I don’t accept? What if I accept later? There are dozens of questions associated with the all-star process, and plenty at stake for those who don’t make the right moves, act promptly, etc.

These recent editions of my newsletter have been met with plenty of emails, calls and texts from readers. I’m glad to get these questions. It’s much better to handle these issues now, in early November, than some time in late December or even early January, when it’s far too late. Whenever I’m talking to parents concerned about their sons’ place in the process, it reminds me of January 2007.

I was working on my first-ever game here in Houston, the Inta Juice North-South All-Star Classic. It was pretty heady stuff for me back then, as I’d just launched ITL a few short years beforehand and I was already playing a central role in filling the rosters of a game that real NFL scouts would attend. It was a fun fall and winter. Part of what made it fun was that there were two games we were competing against for talent, one in Las Vegas and one in El Paso.

At times, we would hear that others were saying our game wouldn’t be played. This infuriated us, but there was little we could do about it. At the same time, we were hearing that the other two games wouldn’t be played. We had no way to know if this was true or not, though I’ll admit we had a lot of fun considering the possibilities of one or both games falling through.

As the weeks progressed, we moved closer and closer to the game itself in early January. We were scheduled head-to-head with two contests that year, the one in Las Vegas and the Hula Bowl in Honolulu (which, ironically, I would run the following year). On the Friday before our players were scheduled to start arriving on Sunday, we started to get credible evidence that the Las Vegas game would, indeed, be cancelled. Very soon, the phone calls started poring into our office line.

We fielded probably 70-80 calls that Friday night from people, mostly parents and the players themselves, that were irate, devastated, shocked, tearful, or all of the above. We wound up taking calls until around 1 a.m., then trudged home, bleary-eyed and empty. But the real calls started the next day.

When we arrived at the office that Saturday, we had more than a hundred messages (there’s no telling how many actual calls we had received). The voice mails they left were an incredible mess. Callers talked of suing the organizers of the Las Vegas game. They boasted about how scouts were infatuated with their sons, who would be a credit to our game. They begged. They pleaded. They threatened. Sometimes, they threatened, then called back, apologizing and begging to be invited. Some offered money. Some parents cried during the message. Some screamed. It was amazing. We wanted to help, but we were trapped. We wound up adding a handful to our roster, but couldn’t help many. The others, I guess, tried different options, but I doubt many of them found another game.

This wasn’t a life-or-death situation, but it sure felt that way to those parents and those players. And while no one could have predicted that the Vegas game would fail, and so late in the process, it does help to get as educated as possible on these games and really know the ins and outs of things.

If you’re a parent who’s got questions, I’m here to help. Reach me at nstratton@insidetheleague.com

Endorsing early exits

03 Monday Nov 2014

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Now that we’ve reached the start of November, college players are starting to think post-college playing days. So are all-star game organizers, and slowly but surely, news is starting to trickle out about all-star game invites. One such invite caught my attention last week.

The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, currently the No. 3 game in the all-star cycle, invited Syracuse FS Durell Eskridge to play in its game slated for Jan. 17 in Los Angeles. Normally, that wouldn’t be a big deal. What makes it a little unusual, however, is that Eskridge will not (technically) be done with his playing career in January, as he’s a redshirt junior.

As the college game moves inch by inch into an official minor league for the NFL, I guess this isn’t particularly surprising. However, it is disappointing. When the Senior Bowl began inviting redshirt seniors to its game in 2013, it was billed as a special circumstance, and one only arrived at after receiving permission from the school’s head coach. What’s more, the player invited only received his invite after the season and after he’d already declared his intention to enter the draft a year early. To my knowledge, Eskridge has made no such declaration, though given that the NFLPA has deemed him to be a legitimate NFL prospect, I’d be surprised if such an announcement isn’t forthcoming.

Look, I know these players aren’t competing in major college football for the fun of hanging out with their friends, but it’s still a major leap to start inviting players who could conceivably improve their lots in life by spending another season on the college level. Of course, in its zeal to show that it hosts the biggest and best all-star game, the NFLPA has already shown an inclination to invite juniors in its own, ham-handed way several years ago.

This resulted in embarrassment and a scarcity of NFL scouts at the game in 2012, but the PA appears to be headed to no such change of direction this year. It seems to be juniors invited, full speed ahead.

In the grand scheme of things, I guess this matters little. However, as this policy is expanded and the other games fall in line, inviting their own juniors and eventually even encouraging underclassmen to leave early, it’s going to be a net negative for the game, in my opinion. But time will tell. Hopefully, there will remain at least a few collegiate players who take the long view on an NFL career. We’ll see.

Taking stock of NFL players by their college’s states

30 Thursday Oct 2014

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We decided to go back inside the numbers to take a look at a few trends related to the states in which NFL players went to college. There weren’t many surprises, and the numbers were very similar to the states by high school. We also checked into the twisting paths some players took to the league.

  • California is tops with 179 players from Golden State colleges. Texas is next with 162, while Florida is just behind with 160. Those three states also make up the top three if you go by players by hometowns (California, 277; Florida, 255 and Texas, 242).
  • The only other state with more than 100 of its college players in the NFL is Alabama (102).
  • Georgia doesn’t do a great job of keeping its high school talent in-state. Though the Peach State is fourth (125) in NFL players at the high school level, it’s just No. 12 (69) in players from Georgia colleges.
  • Ohio is fifth in NFL players from its high schools (101) and its colleges (96).
  • There are a lot of schools that serve as football factories, and even some junior colleges that produce their share of future pros. However, there’s only one player in the NFL who went to the Military Academy Prep School, i.e., the ‘juco’ for people wanting to attend West Point. It’s Seahawks DE Julius Warmsley, who finished up at Tulane.
  • Vikings DT Tom Johnson is, unofficially, the only active player who has experience in NFL Europe, which dissolved in 2007. Actually, Johnson has a closet full of jerseys as he’s also played in the Arena League and the CFL after he finished up at Southern Miss.
  • Broncos DE Chase Vaughn has played in more leagues even than Johnson, having experinence in the CFL, IFL, AFL and UFL. By the way, he played at Adams State before finishing up at CSU-Pueblo. There’s also Cowboys FB Tyler Clutts, who’s played in the CFL, AFL and UFL.
  • Only one player we tracked has played with three Division I-A (FBS) programs. It’s Texans QB Tom Savage (Pittsburgh, Arizona and Rutgers), drafted 4/135 this spring.

War Story Wednesday: Trouble

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

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On Tuesday, I touched on the subject of players that just can’t be saved. Today, I want to expand on a story I glossed over in that post.

About a year ago, I was on the phone with Marco Marciano, who was then working with XL Sports Agency, which is based in Miami. Marco is not a certified contract advisor, but was part of XL’s recruiting team (Marco has since left XL). At any rate, Marco became a client after I had reported that former Oregon TE Colt Lyerla had signed with his then-firm.

Keep in mind that this was late October with many weeks of college football left to play, and Lyerla had departed from the team voluntarily and, obviously, in response to a pending suspension from the team. Already, people in draft circles knew Lyerla had unlimited physical ability but numerous struggles off the field. As I spoke to Marco, whom I like a great deal, I didn’t quite know what to say. Already, it was clear they had signed a troubled young man who would most likely not be willing, or able, to change. I wanted to warn Marco but didn’t know how, given the commitments already made.

Marco told me his agency had set Lyerla up to train with Tom Shaw in Orlando, Fla. Though Tom is not an ITL client, he is nonetheless very good in his field and also a pioneer in combine prep. As such, a normal training program would be costly, but Lyerla was going to be starting in October. That adds two months and several thousand dollars to his training package. And all this money would be spent on a player who would most surely not be drafted due to all his baggage, meaning his agency would be chasing that money for years.

As I recall, it was just days later that Lyerla had his first offseason arrest. Marco called me decrying the fact that they had not gotten him out of Eugene quickly enough, and that had they just gotten him on a plane to Orlando, it never would have happened. I didn’t know how to tell him that it didn’t look like it would have mattered where he was, that drugs were a major problem for him.

That was one of the last times I spoke to Marco, and also one of the last times XL Sports was still representing the former Duck. Just as I expected, Lyerla was dogged with several other problems last offseason, and in fact changed agencies twice in the space of six months, going from XL to Morgan Advisory Group to Elevate Sports, which reps him now. All three firms are reputable and able, even though Colt has not been.

Today, as then, Lyerla has tantalizing athletic ability, though he’s out for the season after experiencing a knee injury in camp. Due to his talent, he will not lack for suitors, either in the NFL or among agents. I hope he learns his lesson, though there are no guarantees. But I hope everyone who reads this and aspires to work in sports learns the lesson Marco and many others had to learn the hard way.