[sportscurmudgeon]

Two comments here;

I had not heard that Fitzgerald's and Taylor's parents were doing the same thing by charging an interview fee to prospective agents. If they are, I would say that it is a bit of a low-rent move but they are not registered agents with the NFLPA where they might run afoul of the "ethics regulations". I will give these parents some free advice:


Do not forget to report this "income" to the IRS next year. Tax evasion is such an unseemly thing to have on your record...


Someone asked what an agent does for a player. The answer is that there are as many flavors of agent/player relationships as there are Baskin Robbins flavors in a month.

Mostly, agents negotiate the terms of contracts for players and when players are free agents, the agents will help them locate a team where they can sign and get a good deal - financially and in terms of playing time. The agents also are supposed to assure that the contracts fit into all the league rules and into the guidelines established by the NFLPA. Remember, all contracts have to be examined and "blessed" by the league and the NFLPA so the agent needs to pay some attention here.

Some agents are also attorneys and represent the player in various litigation situations.

Agents try to establish and then negotiate endorsement deals for players - everything from a big shoe/apparel deal with Nike to the little deal with a local car dealership where the player gets a free car as his payment for the endorsement.

Some agents are also involved with financial management companies and work to invest a portion of the player's money for him.

Some agents establish foundations for the players (usually the big name players who are getting much more than minimum salaries) and help them make the foundations a going legal concern that meets the IRS standards for a charitable organization.

If a player wants to be involved with a movie (a cameo appearance or a role such as LT in "On Any Given Sunday"), the agent will negotiate the deal and assure that it will not conflict with the team contract. If a player wants to be involved with something like a wrestling show, the agent will be involved there too - particularly with the team here because of the potential for injury. Oh, the agent would also arrange for some kine of insurance policy for the player in the wrestling show too.

The agent also shields the player from a jillion annoyances. If I wanted to write a long article on the life and times of Ade Jimoh (just an example, I would not want to do that), I would not call Jimoh. I would call his agent and pitch the idea there and then ask the agent to talk to Jimoh and recommend that Jimoh sit down and talk with me for several hours. Believe me, players who are household names get these kinds of overtures many times a week. The agent is like a filter here; he keeps the annoying ones out.

There are probably a half dozen other things agents do for players but these are the ones I can think of now. Others can add to this list please...