A sports agent; one of the most lucrative and opportunity giving jobs in the entire sports industry. People like Scott Boras and Rich Paul have made an absolute killing off the contracts of the players the represent. I remember hearing about Jay-Z becoming an agent and Roc Nation subsequently signed Kevin Durant; and I tried to figure out every possible avenue to becoming a sports agent before I figured out that I'm really bad at math.
Nonetheless, being an agent for a high-profile player is the gift that keeps on giving, although maybe less so in the NFL. For some context: MLB agents like Scott Boras make between 4% and 10% of their player's contract value. NBA agents come in at no more than 4% and NFL agents make no more than 3%.
So despite the fact that NFL agents take the lowest percentage of a player's contract, the Arizona Cardinals' DeAndre Hopkins said "forget that" and structured his new contract by himself. Not only did he negotiate a deal that would keep him in Arizona for the next 5 years, but he made himself the highest paid non-QB in professional football history. Forget an agent, forget sharing contract value, DeAndre Hopkins is one of the best wide receivers in the game right now and he wanted to get his money for himself.
Absolutely have to applaud the effort, but let's not ignore the trend this might start. It may not happen as much in football, because as we mentioned before, those agents take the smallest cut of any professional sports agent. But NBA and especially MLB agents are getting put on notice. Players are smart, they know their value and have access to all the stats they need to compare themselves to other players and get the salary they know they deserve. I would not be surprised at all if this starts a trend of players coming into the respective major sports leagues without an agent.
The NBA provides an easier way to do that; especially for high-profile college and international players, as Twitter does most of the work for them. Social media provides highlights and insight the wasn't nearly as readily available to the public 10 years ago. Baseball will be a bit harder to do just because of the sheer volume of MLB and MiLB players there are. If you combine that with high school and college-eligible players as well as the international market, most players will need an agent to advocate for them at least until they make it to the show.
The NFL may have the easiest path to making it without an agent however. Sure, for certain positions, or unproven but high ceiling players there is the need for some assistance. But the majority of NFL players are heavily marketed from the time they are in college. NFL execs and scouts know who they are targeting in future drafts at least 3 years ahead. Also, NFL rookie contracts are typically pretty cut and dry based on which round players are drafted in. All of this adds up to a simple contract for players after being marketed for years and subsequently drafted, thereby giving them around 3 years to prove themselves in the league before they can take their stats and use those comparisons to get the contracts they deserve.
I know it's not as simple as this, but I think we will start to see a trend of players getting huge contracts all on their own.
Shoutout to DeAndre Hopkins, lastly, get that money.
-Theo
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