Dec. 24-30
Before we dig into today’s Wrap, just a note: Thursday’s report may be the most important one we’ve written this year. This new way of looking at the December prospect rush – and how name/image/likeness, the transfer portal and added Covid eligibility have affected it – is critical to understanding the way player representation is changing.
If you’re in a hurry, here’s an overview in Twitter form. However, we think we’re seeing a revolution in the way contract advisors look at negotiation and representation, and the shockwaves could spread out to impact the ’23 draft class (and by extension, ’24 as well). When Covid extensions disappear, the impact should lessen, but short of massive changes in the way the portal operates and the way collectives and marketplaces are regulated, it’s the dawning of a new day in player advising.
In Thursday’s report, we go over the numbers being swapped among collectives, players, coaches and agents; how the portal is impacting the evaluation process; and how this is shaping the way contract advisors recruit and even bill their clients and potential clients. It builds on our Wednesday report, which was eye-opening in its own right. The nuances of the industry remain lost on the casual fan (see here), but if you’re part of the business – and if you’re readying this, you probably are – you need to keep up with the fast-changing ecosphere.
Keep in mind that this is all taking place against a growing backdrop of volatility.
· Rumors – and they are just rumors at this point -- are surfacing that selected agencies are offering training packages without training riders, which we discussed last week.
· The XFL – which will have its supplemental draft this weekend – starts and finishes before the 2023 NFL Draft, making it a possible alternate route to the NFL for members of the current draft class.
· Technical difficulties during the test-taking process last summer means many agent hopefuls who failed a second time will be given another chance in July 2023. This potentially means there will be a jumbo new class of contract advisors with open checkbooks in time for the ’24 draft class.
All of these factors will affect not only players and agents but also NFL scouts, trainers, NIL-only agents and, of course, college coaches and personnel types.
That it took so long for us to see this developing picture is on us; at least we saw it. We think you should, as well. We encourage you to check out our Rep Rumblings over the past two weeks for all the usual signing buzz and notes on the changes taking place at the executive and coaching level on both the college and pro fronts, but also to get a sense of how quickly (and how substantially) things are changing.
Here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said about the business of college and pro football this week.
Catching Up: Upton Bell is “85 going on 33” and quite busy in his retirement days. We caught up with the former Patriots GM, 10-year Colts scout and World Football League team co-owner (with golf great Arnold Palmer) this week.
-
Where are you living and what are you doing now? “I live in the North Pole, otherwise known as Cambridge, Mass., right outside of Boston. Actually, it’s in Boston. What I’m doing is, and if I lived another 10 years I couldn’t finish the whole thing, but No. 1, I have two huge collections, one at UMass-Amherst, the Upton Bell Collection, and it takes a look at football, college and pro, from the 1880s to today. It has over 200 artifacts, (including) my Super Bowl ring, (former Eagles co-owner and NFL Commissioner Bert Bell’s) dropkicking trophy, his rings, two gold footballs from (Hall of Fame head coach) George Halas . . . it’s incredible. It also traces my family back to Abraham Lincoln. My grandmother on my father’s side is the daughter of a man, who was one of Lincoln’s closest friends, Leonard Myers, my grandmother’s father. My uncle who was Governor of Pennsylvania, and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and goes all the way down that side, then also looks at my mother, Francis Upton, one of the stars of the Ziegfield Follies. All the things I do now are going into the collection, including interviews I’ve done with people, and I’m doing a personal history for them in two-hour segments that will be available to the public. The other one, which hasn’t been finished yet, is over 500 authors from all around the world, their books and comments and pictures and other things from those authors I’ve interviewed over a 40-year career. That’s at UMass-Lowell right now. It looks at two parts of my life, the sports part of my life and the other part when I did radio and television for 40 years. You will recognize many of the authors from all over the world. I work with the curators on them. I’ve got so many artifacts and stories and history. I would say that I get historians and otherwise calling me at least once a week. I could sit and do that all day long.”
-
Do you miss the job? What do you miss most? “My philosophy in life is, you can look back and remember the good and the bad, but I’m someone that’s always moving forward. That’s really important. It’s about the next day, tomorrow. The past can be prologue. The greatest look I had at America, then versus now, was in those years that I scouted for the Colts. I saw everything. I saw America at each point, because you started out then, and you drove the whole country, you would go during spring practice, and you would drive the country, all the way to the West Coast. You’d see the different parts of it. I also was in the middle of the great uprising in the South and saw some good things and some terrible things. It was the 60s. I’ve spoken a lot about it of the collection, that it changed my mind totally on race in this country and particularly some of the things that I saw in the south, not that it didn’t happen in Boston, as well. . . I predicted in the 60s that one day the NFL would be dominated by the African-American player, and I’ve lived to see that, and I’m very happy about that, because back then it was so difficult, and . . . I had such an appreciation for what they went through . . . (NFL Hall of Fame WO and HBCU great) Jerry Rice never would have been drafted in the first round (if not for progress since). Seeing those attitudes change was really something.”
-
Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues? “One in particular I go back and forth with every week. I haven’t talked to (former NFL executive) Ron Wolf in a long time, but I thought he did a great job. He was always on his own because Al Davis didn’t believe in (combines). He got fired in Tampa because of a bad situation, but he did a great job there. The one person I keep in contact with is (Steelers owner) Art Rooney Jr. It’s terrible he’s not in the Hall of Fame. Of all the great scouts of my era – Bobby Beathard is in the Hall of Fame, Ron Wolf is in the Hall of Fame, Gil Brandt is in the Hall of Fame – Art Rooney was as good as any of them. Nobody has had better drafts than in that 10 years the Steelers had with Art Rooney Jr. In fact, (former Steelers head coach) Chuck Noll wanted to draft another running back, but Art talked him into drafting Franco Harris.”
-
Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)? “Well, I would go to the pro games, I can go to the Patriots game, but I’ve got three TV sets, all over 60 inches. So why the hell would I go sit in the stands or the press box at the games? I’m on Twitter so I can piss people off better from here with the things I see (laughs).”
-
Are there any players or coaches you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game? “First and foremost, you would have to separate it into the older coaches that are gone now and those from today. My first training camp was with (former Bears head coach) George Halas, one of the most colorful people that has ever lived. . . The coaches then were so colorful. Also, (former Jets head coach) Weeb Ewbank, the most underrated coach in football history, who won in two leagues and won the Super Bowl that made the merger work. He was The Little Professor. Paul Brown is the greatest coach in history, even today. Everything you see today, he invented. I went to the Browns’ first training camp in 1950, before they came in the NFL, and I told my father, (Bert Bell, then NFL Commissioner), ‘I think the Browns would beat the hell out of the Eagles,’ and he said, ‘Don’t tell that to anybody. I’m supposed to be neutral.’ (Former Steelers head coach) Chuck Noll was great. (Former Dolphins and Colts head coach) Don Shula gave me the opportunity to be a personnel director, and Shula was the one I was closest to in the NFL. People talk about (Patriots head coach) Bill Belichick, and he’s great, but Shula won with every type of player and QB. Belichick is gonna break his record, but remember, there are now 17 games in the regular season and 50,000 playoff games. Shula won when there were 14 games, then 16, and one playoff game. That’s it. . . And Halas had even fewer games. Today, I have lots of favorites. Among players, I think (HOF RB) Jim Brown is still the greatest running back that ever lived, but there are so many others, like (HOF QB) Johnny Unitas, and (Bucs QB Tom) Brady has some of those qualities. You wouldn’t know if it was the Super Bowl or a regular season game, Unitas was always the same, unperturbed in the greatest moments. He took a beating in every game, never complained. He and Jim Brown, to me, were football. Chuck Bednarik (aka Concrete Charlie) flew 32 missions over Germany at 17 and was the last of the two-way players. The guys that came back from the war had a special place in my heart. They were just a different breed. People today that l I love to watch, Patrick Mahomes; Josh Allen; Joe Burrow, who has a chance to be a Unitas type. There are other guys I love to watch, but particularly the QBs. . . . Basically, they are tremendous athletes. The really good ones, they all can run, they all can avoid the rush, and their arms are incredible. The athletes today are so much bigger, stronger and faster, though I’m not sure the game is better, and by that I mean, 32 teams is too much. I see a lot of great games, but I see a lot of bad games, and that’s because, in football you really need 22 good players. I’ll be damned if you can find 53 good players over 32 teams. Athletes are greater today, but are there enough to fill 32 teams?”
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.
Can your client really play?: Find out what a real NFL talent evaluator thinks. Former Titans executive Blake Beddingfield will give you a complete report with strengths, weaknesses and tendencies, plus a round projection based on 3-4 games watched for just $100 plus tax ($108.25). Most reports are turned in two days. We know it’s a busy time and decisions are being made quickly. We’re here to help. All we need is a name, position and school, and we do the rest. School size/level, multiple transfers or missed games to injuries don’t matter. We’ll find the film and get you a good look. Contact us today so we can get started.
2023 Signings Grid: We’ve got 477 names already on our big board. Here are a few observations.
· We already have agency agreements for 200 of the 477.
· We list 126 Senior Bowl invitees. Of the 126, almost half (61) have already signed with agencies.
· We have five confirmed combine invitees (and counting).
· The suspense is over for four of the 10 players rated as first-rounders by all seven services when last we looked in November. All of the unsigned six are still in bowl play.
We’re adding names daily. Has the player you’ve been recruiting shown up there yet? Don’t guess. Check out the big board here.
It’s draft time already: For the XFL, that is. The league, which begins play in February, will have its final pre-season draft Sunday when teams convene for a supplemental session. Draftees and their agents will be notified on draft day or that evening. Details for Sunday’s proceedings are here.
See you in Fort Worth: The all-star season kicks off Friday as the football world convenes in the Metroplex for the College Gridiron Showcase. Here are a few highlights:
· Our Sunday interviews session – which lasts from just after noon until well into the night – is what we’re known for. We will have all 32 NFL teams plus all eight XFL teams represented, and our CGSU class will be working hard to bring the players to the teams.
· About the CGSU -- It’s our second class of aspiring NFL scouts. They’ll work hard on Sunday to connect teams and interviewees. When they’re not hard at work, they’ll be hearing war stories and learning what it takes to work in the NFL from scouts and executives. The program is led by CGS personnel director Michael Rittelman and ITL’s Neil Stratton.
· If you’re a contract advisor, and you’re in town Monday night, come thirsty for the Agent Mixer from 5-6 p.m. at Chef's Table Bar in the Fort Worth Sheraton, the official hotel of the College Gridiron Showcase. It’s sponsored by Agent Live 360.
We hope to see you in the Lone Star State next weekend. Still not sold? Need more details? We broke down everything associated with the CGS in today’s post at Succeed in Football.
About those interviews: Former Bears GM Jerry Angelo is back for another year of providing interview prep to prospects across the draft spectrum. We can make sure your client has a game plan for talking to scouts no matter the game, and we can either come to you in person or across cyberspace via Zoom. Angelo, who spent 24 years in NFL front offices, has a proven system for getting prospects ready to face the tough questions from NFL evaluators. Last year, we trained four first-rounders for the big interview, including three in the top 20 picks. No matter where your prospect is projected, we can help him get where he wants to be at a fair price. Contact us today and let’s get you a quote and a game plan for getting your client ready to go.
Next week: The first week of the new year is always a busy time, but things will be busier than ever with NFL Combine invitations trickling out, the XFL Supplemental Draft on Sunday, plenty of openings at the Shrine Bowl and NFLPA Bowl, and Black Monday just over a week away.
· It will be a big week for Rep Rumblings. With nine bowl games taking place between today and Monday, there will be dozens of top prospects making their representation and even training decisions over the next 72 hours. We’ll have all the buzz.
· Our Signings Grid will be even busier. We hope to add 50 agent confirmations to top names on our list and plenty of confirmed all-star invitees. We’ll also begin designating NFL Combine invitees. We expect to start filling blanks even more aggressively in the coming days.
· We’ll break out the Senior Bowl in its own grid and track all the agent signings there. We may do the same for the Shrine Bowl. Look for the Senior Bowl to have its own post early next week and the Shrine later.
· We’ll also maintain our All-Stars by Position board to give our readers a good chance of where there are still vacancies at the Senior Bowl, Shrine Bowl and NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
· If we don’t debut our 2023 Scouting Changes Grid this week to reflect the changes already made in Tennessee, Houston and elsewhere, it will be next week. Here’s last year’s grid, which tracked just under 300 moves.
· Normally we’d have our Agent Changes and Agents by Total Clients this week – they’re overdue for December – but we don’t expect to have the time. We’ll most likely have to postpone them until sometime in January or February.
· In our Succeed in Football blog, we’ll have an insightful look at the industry and how the players (on and off the field) are changing.
· In next week’s Friday Wrap, we’ll review seven top draft services and look at the players who are rising and falling with bowl season all but wrapped up.
If you aren’t already part of the ITL family, get 2023 started the right way and join us.
Happy New Year to you and yours, and we wish you all the best in 2023.
|
|
|
