On March 20, 2004, a man by the name of Darrell Wills made a written proposal to current Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin whereby Boldin would provide Wills with $170,000.00 for the purpose of Wills creating a sports agency called, Imagine Sports International (ISI).  The proposal included a promise by Wills that he would repay the $170,000.00 loan plus interest within five years.  It also established that Wills would only charge Boldin 2.5% on his professional contract instead of the NFLPA maximum 3% commission and handle all of Boldin’s marketing for only 15% commissions instead of 20%.  Wills signed a promissory note that same month.  More than five years elapsed and Wills failed to pay Boldin the $170,000.00 much less the interest.

In 2011, Boldin filed a Complaint for Damages and Determination of Dischargeability of Debts.  Wills had previously filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code.  In the Complaint, Boldin made sure to point out that pursuant to the rules of the NFLPA, agents of NFL players are prohibited from borrowing money from their clients.  Boldin filed a Motion for Entry of Default Final Judgment, which the Court granted.  The Court stated that Boldin was due $280,115.28.

It is unknown whether Boldin has received any of that money.  Perhaps he appropriates some more time to recouping his money now that the Baltimore Ravens’ season has come to a close.

Anquan Boldin’s Former Agent Owes Him A Boatload Of Money from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

More recently, Anquan Boldin dropped Drew Rosenhaus for Tom Condon and Creative Artists Agency (CAA).  And yesterday, Cardinals GM Rod Graves expressed his excitement to work with Boldin’s new agents. 

Asked if there would be enough money under the salary cap to sign Boldin this year, Graves said, “It will have some challenges. There’s certainly cause for some give and take and creativity on both sides, but Tom’s been noted for that. Again, I just look forward to sitting with him and we’ll find out where we are at that point.”

I never saw a quote like that from Graves when Rosenhaus was on the other side of the negotiation table.

It seems as though GMs and other team personnel definitely play favorites when it comes to sports agents.  While Graves and others might place Condon over Rosenhaus, does it necessarily mean anything?  As long as the agent gets his client the best deal possible, quotes in an article don’t mean a thing to me.

GMs Playing Favorites? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules