Anyway, since many collegiate football players can now sign with an agent in compliance with all rules and regulations, it is important for them to be aware of some tips that may guide them in the selection process.  If you are an athlete or parent of an athlete reading this blog, go ahead and read over this sheet released by the NFLPA.  If you are an agent trying to secure an athlete as a client, send it off to that potential client.  I assume that he will appreciate the fact that you are going out of your way to help him protect himself considering the importance of the decision he will be making.

In the short memo, this paragraph stuck out to me:

Hiring an agent who has the most experience or who has represented the most number of players is not necessarily the best choice. There are more than 750 certified agents with varying degrees of experience and numbers of clients. “Just because an agent is less experienced or works at a smaller firm does not necessarily mean he or she can’t provide the same level of service or expertise in contract negotiations,” [Mark] Levin, [NFLPA Director of Salary Cap and Agent Administration] said.

Think about the selection process as a buffet.  If you are on any of the myriad of draft boards published by a variety of publications and websites, I am sure that you have at least a handful of agents looking to represent you.  Each agent has his or her selling points and all are different in their own ways.  What are you looking for?  Is it an agency that has a ton of clients and has the resume and experience to make you feel calm going into the draft?  Or are you looking for a smaller group that will put you at the top of its agenda and put a great amount of energy into making sure every GM knows who you are and what kind of cereal you eat in the morning?  One thing to remember is that every agent and agency started somewhere.  Even Drew Rosenhaus, who know has more clients than he does cell phones (has to be at least 50, right?), had to convince his first client to choose him over someone else who had a large client base at the time.

“[Don't] ever represent any player that is a resident or goes to school in the state of Alabama. I am not an agent anymore, but I wouldn’t do it.” – Mike Trope, author of Necessary Roughness and former NFLPA agent.

Trope was quoted in SportsBusiness Journal (subcription required) in reference to the Raymond Lee Savage Jr. story that I have reported on in the past.  Do Alabama’s notoriously tough agent laws truly create such a high risk of potential penalty that it is clearly not worth recruiting in the state?  A potential verdict of ten-years in prison for Savage for failing to register as an athlete agent in Alabama (Class C felony)…seems like quite a hefty consequence.  I am having a tough time trying to argue with Trope’s opinion.

Raymond Lee Savage Jr., the CEO and President of Savage Sports Management was an All-American linebacker at the University of Virginia.  He has negotiated over 60 player contracts as a player agent.  He was arrested and taken into custody last Thursday.

In the end, all the money that you may receive by trying to circumvent the imposed rules is not worth it.  No one wants to be arrested or go to jail, and all of the money in the world cannot make you happy if you end up behind bars.  Universities and state authorities are cracking down and getting serious about prosecuting agents who violate NCAA rules and regulations.  This is most evident in southeastern states like Alabama and Arkansas.  Do yourselves and your clients a favor by adhering to the rules, keeping the playing field level, and resisting the urge to get a quick buck by jeopardizing others’ futures (NCAA athletes).

In 2004, the NFLPA conducted a survey of its agents and found that more than two-thirds of its 800 certified contract advisors did not have any insurance. For those who said they did have insurance, further review showed that most did not have insurance covering their activities as an agent, only for their law practice activities. When these survey results were revealed to the NFLPA Board of Player Representatives, they responded by voting in 2005 to make insurance mandatory for agents in order to maintain their certification in good standing. Today, the NFLPA is the only major sports union to require insurance for its agents.

The insurance covers agent activity such as providing services to NFL players in the negotiation and enforcement of their NFL player contracts, and providing advice to players with respect to the protection and enforcement of their rights and benefits under the CBA.

The NFLPA is working with Capital Professional Insurance Managers (CPIM) to provide an insurance product designed for this coverage. This year the premium has been reduced for the third consecutive year to rates starting at $1,750. Players or agents with questions should call Athelia Doggette in the NFLPA Agent Administration and Salary Cap Department.

The life of an NFLPA agent is tough.  You must pay a $1,650 non-refundable application fee, earn a post-graduate degree, travel to Wash D.C. for a two day seminar followed by a written exam (which supposedly only has about a 60% passing rate), continue to attend an NFLPA seminar every year, negotiate at least one player contract within every three-year period that you are certified, AND pay for insurance yearly.  All to be rewarded a maximum of 3% on a contract that you negotiate for a client.  But in the back of your mind, you still are driven by the story of Jerry Maguire, right?

Anyway, Matthew somehow found the time to pen a short write-up on his experiences at the 2008 NFLPA Contract Advisors Seminar.  It is definitely worth the quick read [2008 NFLPA Contract Advisors Seminar].

While attending Oklahoma University as a law student in 1997, the now 34-year old Kelli Masters (left) entered the Miss Oklahoma pageant and won, allowing her to advance to the Miss America competition. A former baton-twirling champion (she was a member of the 1990 and 1993 U.S. Twirling Teams) while an undergraduate along with her twin sister Kim, Kelli was used to leading the university’s marching band onto the field on Saturday game days, but she wasn’t used to being the only one in the spotlight. She didn’t win Miss America, but the $70,000 she did earn in scholarship money helped her with tuition. And the experience of composing herself through all the hoopla and pageantry was even more valuable. “I used to be a quiet law student who could barely speak in front of people. Give me a baton and I was fine. (Before I competed in pageants) I couldn’t get in front of a jury, or a negotiation room, and articulate myself the way I needed to articulate myself.”

Masters graduated with honors from OU Law School in 1999, was admitted to the Oklahoma bar in 2000, and is now in her 10th year as a member of the law firm of Fellers, Snider, Blankenship, Bailey & Tippens in downtown Oklahoma City, where she works primarily as an NFLPA certified agent. She stays close to the football field, not with a baton, but rather with a Blackberry and the same relentless attitude that got her this far in the first place. Having worked the last three NFL combines, she was absent from this year’s April draft, though her client listed this year included defensive back Martel Van Zant and fullback Julius Crosslin of Oklahoma State, linebacker/fullback Ian Pleasant of Oklahoma, offensive tackle Walter Boyd of Tulsa, punter Chris MacDonald of Texas State, safety Brandon Logan of Grambling and wide receiver Jeremy Trimble of Army. The prevailing feeling was that these players would likely go undrafted, and would then have to rely on those negotiating skills of Masters’ and subsequent free-agent deals that she would orchestrate with various GM’s.

That suits Masters just fine, who credits her success thus far in the traditionally male-dominated industry to networking and unassuming, Oklahoma charm. Listening to various league scouts, it seems these relaxed methods make dealing with Masters to be an inviting change of pace from the typical ’shark’ like agents. “[Kelli's] very good at finding out if her client fits a team’s personnel,” according to Tennessee Titans scouting coordinator Blake Beddingfield. “She’s really easy to talk to. She’s not overbearing. If you give Kelli a call, you might get a voice mail, but you’re going to get a call back in five minutes. That’s rare in this business.”

Masters has come a long way, but is the first to admit that she has even further to go. A rolodex that started out with just two names now has hundreds. And she has already experienced a taste of the glamorous perks that the industry has to offer: a Maxim party at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort during last year’s Super Bowl in Glendale, AZ, and being the guest of Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour, during this year’s ESPY’s. But Masters has her eye on bigger things. She lost out on the Adrian Peterson ’sweepstakes’ two years ago, and states matter of factly that she is already in year three of the five years she gave herself to ‘make it in the business.’ Beddingfield, for one, has confidence in her. “She’s doing it the hard way because she’s dealing with clients on the fringe, but I’m confident she’s going to get a big-name client.”