Jun
25

Agent Spotlight: Leigh Steinberg

By | Agent Spotlights

5 Comments

Leigh Steinberg has gone from the most prominent NFL agent to maybe just another option in a field dominated by young, passionate personas.

Steinberg first began representing athletes living as a Resident Advisor (RA) in his college dorm at UC Berkeley when he represented Steve Bartkowski. He quickly rose to the top, representing big name quarterbacks and making nice commissions on their salaries. Things started to get bad when he took on Ricky Williams as a client. It got worse when his former partner David Dunn, took 50 NFL clients with him as he left Steinberg’s company. Dunn eventually had to pay Steinberg $44.6 million for such actions, however. The money did not reverse Steinberg’s luck. He went on to be Matt Leinart’s agent [Early $ for Leinart]. Leinart moved on to CAA. Then Winston Justice of USC also terminated his representation agreement with Steinberg [Leinart Ditches Steinberg].

So what is Steinberg up to now-a-days? Well, he is still throwing his annual Super Bowl extravanza [Party Like A Sports Agent]. He is advising his clients to bank stem cells from their children or even from their own body in case this type of injury repair takes off in the near future [A Good Cellular Signal]. He actively lobbies for better concussion treatment [At NFL summit, concussions' impact].  He recently was arrested for DUI [DUI In The OC].  And he is representing the last pick in the 2007 NFL draft?

Has Leigh Steinberg really gone from an agent who represents first overall picks and who had a movie based on his life (Jerry McGuire) to a person who has the time to represent Mr. Irrelevant? Apparently so. Ramzee Robinson, the 255th overall pick taken by the Detroit Lions, is represented by Steinberg [A T-Bone and Lowsman for Bino].  Former offensive lineman, Matt Willig, thinks that Robinson needs to date a coach’s daughter in order to just make a roster.  Has Steinberg really had his name devalued this much?

-Darren Heitner 

For more on Leigh Steinberg, check out his book: Winning With Integrity. 

Related posts:

  1. Leinart Ditches Steinberg
  2. Interview With The Agent: Mark Steinberg
  3. Early $ for Leinart
  4. Follow Up On CAA
  5. Interview With Mark Steinberg Scheduled For Tomorrow
  • LW

    Book was still a good read despite his fall. Could be some sort of repercussion from the book? Loved all the negotiation mumble jumble he threw in, basically read like a how to negotiate contracts book with sports agent examples. Still enjoyed it.

  • http://www.sportsagentblog.com Darren

    I’ll agree that it was a good read, and was one of the first “sports agent” books that I finished. However, I thought that it was a little too preachy at times.

  • steve

    Ramzee Robinson is not represented by Steinberg. He is represented by Andrew Benedict. Steinberg throws a Mr. Irrelevant party in Newport Beach every year. The contract the article speaks of is a bit of a recurring joke. Steinberg no longer actively recruits new clients, but serves as a quasi-consultant for the Tollners at Rep 1.

  • http://www.sportsagentblog.com Darren

    Steve-

    You are 100% correct. I noticed that I erred on naming Steinberg as Robinson’s agent. Good catch.

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