Pro Football
NFL's Rough Draft?
Tom Van Riper, 04.25.08, 11:30p.m. ET, Forbes Magazine
How does a sport's aagency talk up one of it's clients without inherently talking down another?
That's what NFL gurus following every move in the April 26 draft are wondering. Their point: consolidation of sport's agencies, resulting in more top picks being represented by fewer industry rep houses, tempts them to play one client against another in negotiations.
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"There's a conflict of interest at the top of the draft, "says Scott Wright, a longtime draft follower who runs the website www.drafthistory.com.
Wright's ire is focused on CAA Sport's, which represents three players projected to gon in the top eight or nine picks. Michigan offensive linemant Jake Long, Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston and Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan are all CAA clients.
CAA Sport's is the sport's agency unit of Creative Artists Association, the entertainment industry talent rep firm that brought high-powered sport's agent Tom Condon and his crew into its fold in 2006.
But an analysis of the numbers by Forbes.com found no pattern of rising disparity among first-round salaries and bonuses has emerged yet. Historically, the annual income growht for blue chippers has benefited everyone--high, middle or lower fort-round picks--pretty equally.
Last year's top five picks--LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell, Georgia Tech receiver Calvin HJohnson, Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas, Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams and Penn State tackle Levi Brown--took just under a third of last year's rookie money, while the top 10 picks accounted for half. Those breakdowns are in line with those in 2000, when the top fice picks took home 32% of the money; the top 10 picks took 51%.
That doesn't mean things aren't changing. The consistency has most likely been a result of a diverse group of sport's agencies ech fighting for their clients. That model could fade if agency consolidaton continues. According to the NFL Players Association, 23 separate agencies representing the 32 players projected to go in the first round by Scouts, Inc. CAA Football has five players, while Roanoke, Ind.-based Maximum Sport's Management has four.
Experts believe the rebuilding Dolphins, coming a 1-15 season and needing help on both sides of the ball, were considering both Long Gholston as their top choice. Assuming that's the case, "you need an agent for Gholston who will disrupt discussions between the Dolphins and Long, " says Mike Florio, who runs the website www.profootballtalk.com and also provides draft expertise for The Sporting News. In other words, selling the Dolphins on Long can't help but be at the expense of Gholston. CAA did not return phone calls.
Most agents have begun recusing themselves from representing more than one player at the same position, Florio points out, to avoid those very types of conflicts.