It's Tough To Get Drafted in the NFL When You Don't Have An Agent And Teams Can't Contact You
Quarterback Lamar Jackson continues to be one of the biggest puzzles of the 2018 draft, due in part to the fact that Jackson doesn’t have an agent. Because he doesn’t have an agent, some teams continue to have a hard time getting in touch with him to arrange pre-draft visits and/or workouts.
Per a league source, one team tried at least seven times to contact Jackson. The team in question wasn’t able to reach him, and the team as of earlier on Thursday had not heard back from him.
And make no mistake about it — Jackson has decided to go without an agent simply because he believes that there’s nothing for an agent to do when the time comes to negotiate a contract.
“I know coming in as a rookie, an agent doesn’t really negotiate anything,” Jackson told Jarrett Bell of USA Today. “You’re going to get the salary you’re going to get. I decided I don’t need him. He’s going to be taking a big cut out of my paycheck . . . and I feel I deserve it right now.”
It’s a horribly short-sighted and ill-informed decision, overlooking the fact that a good agent can get a player drafted higher than he otherwise would have been drafted, and paid more than he otherwise would have been paid. As part of this effort, a good agent can fend off the efforts of other agents to promote their own clients while knocking other players. (And, yes, that happens all the time.)
I think a big topic that is not being talked about enough is this whole Lamar Jackson situation with the NFL Draft. First off, he’s probably the most interesting prospect in the entire draft. He’s Michael Vick reincarnated and his potential is franchise-altering. On the other side he could be a gigantic bust since some think he relies way too much on his legs and less on his arm to beat you. That formula does not always translate well into the NFL, and with a draft class including names like Darnold, Rosen, Mayfield, Allen, and Rudolph it’s tough to gamble on Jackson over those guys. There will be teams that like the kid no doubt. Teams that can afford to take a chance on him (like the Saints) and there will be teams that don’t even give him a thought of being their pick at any point.
Jackson has made a head scratching decision to not sign an agent. His reasoning? There’s no use for an agent to negotiate a rookie contract and all they do is take in the agent’s fee with the deal. That aspect of an agent may be true with rookies, but how about that agent pitching you to teams and hyping you up, raising your stock? How about them doing everything they can to make you as valuable as humanly possible to these teams? There’s so much more to an agent than a contract negotiation, albeit that is a big part of his job, but to just forgo having one is insane. What makes Drew Rosenhaus so good at his job and Scott Boras with baseball is that they hype the fuck out of their clients to these teams and use every type of leverage possible to get the best possible situation for their guys. The report that came out says that a specific NFL team has tried to reach out to Jackson SEVEN times but have heard nothing but radio silence. I can guarantee you that wouldn’t happen if he had an agent handling his pre-draft meetings. There’s a reason every single NFL player has an agent and it clearly has more to do with just taking a percentage of your contract. Jackson is a special, unique player and an agent expressing this to teams would probably be the smartest thing possible. You could make the case that our of all the players in the draft he’s the one that needs an agent the most. Just an insane move by him