If gamers wish to symbolize themselves that’s their enterprise. Even when it may be dangerous enterprise.
The 2 gamers at the vanguard of the he-man-agent-haters membership, Russell Okung and Richard Sherman, not solely determined to deal with their very own contracts but additionally to proselytize that different gamers ought to do the identical. Each, of their preliminary forays into self-negotiated offers (Okung with the Broncos and Sherman with the 49ers), didn’t do effectively.
Others have, like Bobby Wagner. Additionally, Lamar Jackson ultimately received a market-value deal with out having to offer one, two, or three p.c to an agent. (Numerous different gamers fake to symbolize themselves, whereas basically being represented by somebody who just isn’t correctly licensed by the NFL Gamers Affiliation.)
Jackson’s contract has a median worth of $52 million. It incorporates, nonetheless, $750,000 in annual bonuses from 2024 by way of 2027. He should take part in at the very least 80 p.c of the voluntary exercises to get the cash. This yr, he didn’t. The cash received’t be earned.
This raises a couple of truthful questions. Did he know he’d should be all-in for the offseason program to get that cash? Did he wish to hinge $3 million in whole income to these funds? And will an excellent agent have gotten the Ravens to offer Jackson the cash with out insisting on a large carrot for exhibiting as much as the April-to-June periods?
Then there’s the query of whether or not Jackson realized he’d lose the cash if he didn’t present up for at the very least 80 p.c of the exercises. A very good agent’s job would have been to verify he is aware of — particularly since an agent making the utmost three-percent charge would have had $22,500 driving on it.
If an excellent agent may have gotten the Ravens to ditch the exercise bonuses, that might have gone a good distance towards paying the agent’s charges. With $32.5 million in 2024 compensation, $750,000 equates to 2.3 p.c of his whole pay.
Primarily based on the total contractual worth of $52 million per yr, the misplaced exercise bonus counts as 1.4 p.c of the 2024 portion of it.
If he doesn’t earn any of the exercise bonuses below the contract, Jackson will lose $3 million. That counts as 1.153 p.c of the total $260 million contract.
If Jackson may have gotten an agent to comply with symbolize him in alternate for a charge of 1 p.c — and if that agent had been in a position to funnel the $3 million in workout-bonus cash into base wage or possibility/offseason roster bonuses, the agent’s charges would have been lined.
With an additional $400,000 to spare.
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