The agent is an indispensable link in every competitive sport. It is the link between the player and the market and is an essential key to the industrial chain, regardless of the field. Artists, models, writers, etc...
Everyone knows about the agents, but no one really knows what they do. It's a versatile job, and they must help athletes develop and manage their day-to-day affairs. They are also responsible for assisting athletes to negotiate contracts, manage assets, arrange transfers, investments, and all sports-related matters, including personal life.
"Do you have a clear goal for the future?" This is the question that every agent asks to decide if the player is worth investing in. The question is broad and profound, without warning.
Shoya didn't answer immediately, but he twirled the spoon in his coffee and opened the floor: "If this is a test of my adaptability, your question doesn't make sense," which made Layfield smile.
After the joke, he gets very serious: "Everyone wants to win the Super Bowl. It's a common goal for every player. Everyone stands up for this, and I'm no exception. It's an unanswered question, but it's the answer everyone gives. "But I know my position: talking about the Super Bowl is blasphemy because it's so far away. My current goal is to win every game and establish myself in this league. »
Layfield nodded with a smile. This guy is different. It's his instincts telling him.
An agent. It's not that he didn't think about it, but his agent let him go shortly after his injury caused him to miss the NFL Combine. Seeing no more opportunity to increase the hype around him, he preferred terminating the contract.
Typically, agents follow players as early as middle school.
The loss of his agent had several implications: the lack of promotion that the agent should have achieved caused Shoya's rating to go down in the draft because the NFL world is small, and everyone knows each other. He signed his rookie contract himself.
However, the profession is specialized. The role is so crucial that it can build and destroy a career.
An agent's most important job is negotiating contracts and managing business value. Teams rarely make concessions, and the interests of the team and the player differ.
On top of that, there's the player's career planning, media, cooperative sponsors, and maximizing the player's business value. There is also the management of the property and the player's private life.
Too many details are to be taken into account, and after canceling with his agent, he had a clear idea of what he wanted.
"Not interested," Shoya insisted.
In today's era, agents are like leeches. Indeed, they want their clients to succeed and have more advantages, which is incompatible with Shoya's ideals and life principles.
"Actually, I have nothing against agents. As you may have known, my previous agent abandoned me before the draft, and if I had one, I would have been selected higher. But I decided to run alone in the end after a thorough analysis. He continued.
Can players represent themselves? Of course!
He can negotiate with the team himself, and the same goes for sponsors. He can complete his own training, manage his own prosperity, and organize his own business schedules. He handles everything in person, and everything is done in person.
If he can do it all alone, why bother paying for it?
The percentage is 3%, i.e., all player income must be deducted from 3% to pay the agent's commission. It's too much, so he refuses to pay an agent and do everything himself.
Now that he's in the NFL, getting an agent won't be possible. If it's cut off, an agent will be imperative!
But he can't deny the benefit of having one. It is important to remember that the relationship between the agent and the player is a two-way street. Both parties can choose to go along with each other for success, but they can also choose to fire each other at any time.
That's what happened to him. An excellent cooperative relationship would be based on mutual aid and promotion; however, society does not favor this kind of relationship. It's a world where greed and desires for greatness run rampant.
He never dreamed of being Tom Brady because he's not Tom Brady. That's how Shoya thinks.
Unlike the others, he came in person. He does not doubt the sincerity of the gentleman in front of him. It's not a phone conversation; it's a face-to-face conversation.
For the past two days, his phone has been ringing often, and fifteen agents have thrown bridges for him, but he has never answered and does not intend to do so.
But just because he came doesn't mean he'll get what he wants. He wouldn't have opened the conversation if he knew he was an agent. But he was not close to a conversation, and the two talked for a while before Shoya decided.
The offer itself is not bad. Even though he has already signed a contract with the Commanders, advertising or sponsorship deals are always depending on his performance.
Layfield has bet that he will be good in the future, which has made him happy. The critical word here is in the future, so he didn't sign an agent. What pays off for an agent is not the first contract but the second contract after the first rookie contract.
That's when we'll be talking about a hundred million dollars, but right now, a 3% fee is too big for him to afford. It's not a first-round pick but a fifth-round pick. It is talking about millions of gaps between the two rounds.
You can't blame the agents for that. But the quarterback position is too important, and right now, Shoya's situation is perfect from an agent's point of view.
He's a rookie, he doesn't have an agent, he's a starter, and he has room for improvement. Counting numbers and reading contracts are the least of his worries, and he doesn't feel the need to have anyone specifically.
Rather than an agent, he prefers a sports lawyer because he cannot influence his career choices by focusing solely on his interests. Unlike the agent, who can take from both parties, the sports lawyer takes 10% of the contract when signing.
This is good for Shoya; If he signs his contract for several hundred million dollars, he will take his 10%, and we will hear more about it while the agent takes a percentage every year but almost similar.
The agent will always take the same share because salaries are primarily progressive if Shoya needs to restructure his contract. In other words, with an attorney, Shoya negotiates directly, and the attorney confirms the conclusion against compensation. It is only used to connect interested parties.
His day ended at the end of that conversation. He went home thinking of this…