Jan. 15-21
Most years, as the calendar turns from January to February, it winds down a furious 60-day period of recruiting, wooing, and yes, bidding on the top players in the coming draft class. To some degree, this year has been like any other. However, with a new fighter in the opposite corner for NFL agencies, this year has been a little bit different. ITL Correspondent Brett Greenberg took a look at how NIL agreements and SRAs lined up for the ’22 draft class.
The launching of the NIL era last summer gave some agencies a chance to get a head start on relationship-building with some of the top prospects in the draft class. However, have those connections led from NIL contracts to standard representation agreements? For the most part, the answer is yes. Naturally, there have been a few exceptions, mostly among the biggest names in the draft class:
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Georgia OB Nakobe Dean relied on the Institute for Athletes and STL Sports Group for NIL, but signed with Wasserman Sports for NFL representation.
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Oklahoma OB Nik Bonitto left his NIL matters to LAA Sports, but ultimate signed an SRA with CAA.
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Iowa S Dane Belton worked with Grady Sports on NIL, but signed with SportStars to handle pre-draft guidance and NFL negotiations.
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Liberty QB Malik Willis spent the fall with Steinberg Sports but engaged Athletes First for his NFL contract and endeavors.
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Three Alabama players – WO John Metchie, OH Brian Robinson and DC Josh Jobe – signed with GSE Worldwide for NIL, but wound up going in another direction for NFL contract representation. Metchie went with WME Sports, Robinson with Athletes First, and Jobe with SportsTrust Advisors. A fourth GSE client, SS Jordan Battle, returned to school.
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Pittsburgh QB Kenny Pickett signed with WME Sports after letting Neostar Football and QB Limited coordinate NIL.
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Georgia OG Justin Shaffer was an Agency1 Sports Group client for NIL; he’s with Elite Loyalty Sports for NFL representation.
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Ohio State DE Tyreke Smith signed with A&A Management Group for NIL matters, but is on Klutch Sports Group’s client list for the draft.
Stability has reigned for others. LSU DC Derek Stingley and Texas A&M DT DeMarvin Leal chose The Ballengee Group for NIL as well as NFL representation. The same can be said for Cincinnati QB Desmond Ridder (VaynerSports) and Georgia OG Jamaree Salyer (Roc Nation Sports). All four are in the first-round conversation.
So what’s the takeaway? It’s this: the new NIL rules give plenty of smaller agencies a chance to get their respective feet in the door with some of the biggest prospects in the game. However, this is no guarantee of loyalty, and these firms must prove themselves else the biggest agencies in the business swoop in and harvest the top prospects in December and January.
Want to do your own homework? We have a list of over 1,000 college athletes with their agencies, NIL representation, training facilities, all-star berths and more, and it’s updated most every day. You can access it here.
In the meantime, here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the business of college and pro football this week.
Catching Up: John Bonaventura, 57, works for the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers these days, but he spent four-and-a-half years with the Chiefs. We caught up with him earlier this month at the College Gridiron Showcase.
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Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “Temecula, Calif., and I teach middle school, P.E. I’m also a West Coast pro scout for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.”
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Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “I do. I think what I miss the most are the guys, the teams, the organizations. Going to work every day with a group of people that are heading in the same direction, with the main thing the Super Bowl. You’re trying to find the best way to drive in the same direction, doing the one thing that 31 other teams couldn’t do.”
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Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “Yes. I did the NFL Regional Combines for 10 years, so absolutely. I keep more in touch with the scouts who were in my area with other teams than with my own. Two of my closest friends, one was a Lions scout, and one was a Giants scout. (As a scout), you see them weekly or even daily.”
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Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “Yes, all of the above.”
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Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game?: “I’m still fascinated by the quarterbacks. I love watching the QBs. From (Los Angeles’ Justin) Herbert to (Seattle’s Russell) Wilson, the different styles. Just the quarterbacks. It goes back to scouting, because that’s the one you really want to hit. If you get that one right. . . .”
Review the latest from other former NFL scouts and executives by accessing our Catching Up archive here. Want to hear from a former scout, or know someone who may be interested in being interviewed? Let us know.
The Perfect GM Candidate: Who is that person? What qualities does he have? Should a team be looking for someone with managerial and admin skills, primarily? Is it more important to have someone grounded in new methods, i.e., analytics and information management? Or is it still a chair that should be inhabited by someone who is, first and foremost, football-driven? A tweet by friend of ITL Eric Edholm of Yahoo! Sports this week sparked a few thoughts, so we dug into the question a bit, and after looking at the 32 teams and how they are built, we came up with six points. They’re here in this week’s blog at Succeed in Football.
ITL Signings Grid: At this point, you know what the big board is. We’ve got more than 1,000 names on the list that have signed with an agent, been invited to a legit all-star game, have signed an NIL deal, have started training at a combine prep facility, or all of the above. By the time we’re done in April, the number will be closer to 2,000 names and we’ll have most of our blanks filled in. Check out our latest update here.
Vote vote vote: If you’re an active NFL scout or executive, you just received two emails from us. One is the email you’re currently reading, the Friday Wrap. The other one is contains the link that allows you to take our confidential salary survey and vote on the team that did the best in last spring’s draft. We hope you’ll take a few seconds (maybe 120?) to click through it for us and provide your input. It’s most-appreciated and absolutely necessary if we’re going to paint a comprehensive picture of what scouts get paid in 2022. You’ll struggle to figure out your market rate if you blow off our survey, so please complete it. As always, once it’s done, we’ll be happy to provide our results.
Next week: Sadly, we won’t be in Los Angeles for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, though we know Dane Vandernat and his team will make sure things run smoothly for everyone headed West. Maybe next year for us. That means it will be, for the most part, another week of resting up for the final two big games in the all-star cycle. We have a couple possible Zoom sessions that were pushed back from last week and that might find life this week: one aimed at first-year agents who have questions, and one aimed at the Summer of ’22 NFLPA exam class. We’ll take a look at dates, and if you are in either group, we’ll let you know if we go ahead with our plans. ITL’s head of interview prep, former Bears GM Jerry Angelo, won’t be resting at all as he’ll spend Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Dallas tuning up clients at four facilities: Sports Academy and EXOS in Frisco, Michael Johnson Performance in McKinney and APEC Fort Worth. As for those of us at ITL HQ, this week will look much like last week. We’ll have Rep Rumblings reports, another edition in our weekly blog at Succeed in Football, regular updates of our Signings Grid, and a first look at representation for the Senior Bowl (we hope to add the Shrine Bowl this week, as well). Also, look for editions of our back issues of Agent Changes and Agents by Total Clients. Can’t make it to L.A.? We can’t either, but no matter. We can still get better this week.
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