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Anyone hear about Pats Lineman's agent (1 Viewer)

GregR_2

Footballguy
Has anyone heard anything credible about a conflict of interest situation with Stephen Neal's agent and his re-signing with the Pats? There was some discussion of it on sports radio this morning. Something to the effect of the agent, who also represents Belichick, didn't tell Neal that he had been offered a significantly better offer elsewhere... so the thinking is he is getting some kind of sweetheart deal for one client by not representing another client's best interests?

I can't find anything on it when googling, so wondering if this was just speculation, or if there is really anything to it.

 
If true, this would be suicidal. Neal would certainly sue him for damages and the NFL (or the NFLPA) would bar him from representing any players ever again (I believe they can do that).

 
Has anyone heard anything credible about a conflict of interest situation with Stephen Neal's agent and his re-signing with the Pats? There was some discussion of it on sports radio this morning. Something to the effect of the agent, who also represents Belichick, didn't tell Neal that he had been offered a significantly better offer elsewhere... so the thinking is he is getting some kind of sweetheart deal for one client by not representing another client's best interests?

I can't find anything on it when googling, so wondering if this was just speculation, or if there is really anything to it.
The way I heard it was that Casserly is bitter that Neal never visted Houston and is now claiming that Neal's agent sandbagged his client from doing ANY visits. Meanwhile, Neal did visit Miami, Minnesota and Buffalo.However, I do think that Neal signed a below market deal, and his agent is the same as Belichicks. IMO, the NFL needs to correct that. You can't have an agent representing players and management. It's an obvious conflict of interest.

 
Has anyone heard anything credible about a conflict of interest situation with Stephen Neal's agent and his re-signing with the Pats?  There was some discussion of it on sports radio this morning.    Something to the effect of the agent, who also represents Belichick, didn't tell Neal that he had been offered a significantly better offer elsewhere... so the thinking is he is getting some kind of sweetheart deal for one client by not representing another client's best interests?

I can't find anything on it when googling, so wondering if this was just speculation, or if there is really anything to it.
The way I heard it was that Casserly is bitter that Neal never visted Houston and is now claiming that Neal's agent sandbagged his client from doing ANY visits. Meanwhile, Neal did visit Miami, Minnesota and Buffalo.

However, I do think that Neal signed a below market deal, and his agent is the same as Belichicks. IMO, the NFL needs to correct that. You can't have an agent representing players and management. It's an obvious conflict of interest.
This is basically it. The story to all of this came out last week....Ill try to search for a link later.Basically, Neal's agent didnt let him visit the Texans, who were offering $5mil+ in guaranteed money vs. the $3.2m he got from the Pats. The agent seems to have a great amount of loyalty to the Pats organization, for whatever reason.

 
I don't see how you can restrict agents from representing both management and players, which is what you would have to do.

 
If that agent did this than he is a complete moron. In the big scheme of things Neal's contract isn't that big and if he's risking his livlihood for that amount of money than he's beyond an idiot. If Casserly is making this claims I hope he has something to back them up because they are very damaging and not the type of thing that should be thrown about without factual evidence.

 
Also...let's remember that the agent works for Neal and not vice versa. If Neal has issues with how he is being represented than it's up to him to make sure the guy he hired is doing his job. If infact there are issues than he has to address them because he would not be getting the services he is paying for.

 
Basically, Neal's agent didnt let him visit the Texans, who were offering $5mil+ in guaranteed money vs. the $3.2m he got from the Pats.
You don't see this as a problem?
Neal's agent was apparently worried that Casserly was going to hold his client hostage in Houston until he signed a deal. Because that's what Choo Choo Charlie tried to do to David Givens. Now Casserly is saying that he contacted Neal, going AROUND the agent, and tried to offer him that $5 million guaranteed money deal.If that's true, Casserly is in clear violation of NFL rules.

 
NFLPA REGULATIONS GOVERNING CONTRACT ADVISORS (as amended through November, 2003)

SECTION 3 - STANDARD CODE OF CONDUCT FOR CONTRACT ADVISORS

The objective of the NFLPA in implementing these Regulations is to enable players to make an informed selection of a Contract Advisor and to help assure that the Contract Advisor will provide effective representation at fair, reasonable, and uniformly applicable rates to those individual players he/she represents, and to avoid any conflict of interest which could potentially compromise the best interests of NFL players.

This particular situation, if true, would be a clear violation.

 
Does anyone know who the agent is?

Vinatieri actually canned his agent (who I believe was also BB's) because he felt he was trying to direct AV back to New England. He didn't feel he was being aggressive enough. Not by coincidence AV signed a deal with Indy almost immediatedly after hiring the new agent.

It's not unusual for certain agents to have great relationships with certain teams (or bad relationships). That's just a fact of life in the NFL or any other sport. Yet, it would be highly unusal and incredibly unethical if the agent wasn't doing the services he was hired for to his fullest. That is a far different situation.

 
Did he say he didn't want to play anywhere else? or any team but the Texans? If so then the agent doesn't need to tell him about a Casserly offer and he's representing him just fine.

In theory, good player get alot of offers and this is his agent's job; to weed out the teams he doesn't want to play for

 
Basically, Neal's agent didnt let him visit the Texans, who were offering $5mil+ in guaranteed money vs. the $3.2m he got from the Pats. 
You don't see this as a problem?
Neal's agent was apparently worried that Casserly was going to hold his client hostage in Houston until he signed a deal. Because that's what Choo Choo Charlie tried to do to David Givens. Now Casserly is saying that he contacted Neal, going AROUND the agent, and tried to offer him that $5 million guaranteed money deal.If that's true, Casserly is in clear violation of NFL rules.
It's not.Givens is in Tennessee.

Casserly has been in the NFL a long long time. There's no way (if) if he called Neal and avoided his agent that he'd admit to it.

ETA things could have happenned but there's some wrinkles in your statement

 
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Did he say he didn't want to play anywhere else? or any team but the Texans? If so then the agent doesn't need to tell him about a Casserly offer and he's representing him just fine.

In theory, good player get alot of offers and this is his agent's job; to weed out the teams he doesn't want to play for
I'm still in the dark on where this all started. But when I googled to try to find something on it, I found a story where Neal had said that the main thing he was looking for was the size of the contract, and second was that he was wanting to be somewhere closer to California than Boston is.
 
Did he say he didn't want to play anywhere else? or any team but the Texans? If so then the agent doesn't need to tell him about a Casserly offer and he's representing him just fine.

In theory, good player get alot of offers and this is his agent's job; to weed out the teams he doesn't want to play for
I'm still in the dark on where this all started. But when I googled to try to find something on it, I found a story where Neal had said that the main thing he was looking for was the size of the contract, and second was that he was wanting to be somewhere closer to California than Boston is.
write nflpathey're very good at replying

 
So is Neal at all complaining about this? Is it possible that maybe, just maybe he accepted less money to stay on a team he liked?

As long as potential conflicts are disclosed to a client - and I have a hard time imagining that Neal was unaware of Belichick's representation - then I don't see a problem. Certainly, if there was an offer from Houston, then that should have been passed on to Neal (it may well have been), but it simply sounds like Casserly's bitter over not having gotten the visit.

 
Basically, Neal's agent didnt let him visit the Texans, who were offering $5mil+ in guaranteed money vs. the $3.2m he got from the Pats.
You don't see this as a problem?
Neal's agent was apparently worried that Casserly was going to hold his client hostage in Houston until he signed a deal. Because that's what Choo Choo Charlie tried to do to David Givens. Now Casserly is saying that he contacted Neal, going AROUND the agent, and tried to offer him that $5 million guaranteed money deal.If that's true, Casserly is in clear violation of NFL rules.
It's not.Givens is in Tennessee.

Casserly has been in the NFL a long long time. There's no way (if) if he called Neal and avoided his agent that he'd admit to it.

ETA things could have happenned but there's some wrinkles in your statement
Um... He DID admit to it:
As to Neal, Texans G.M. Charley Casserly was suspicious as to whether the veteran Patriots guard really was a "free" agent. After Hurst "refused" to bring Neal to Houston for a visit, Hurst told Casserly: "It's just not going to work out."

So Casserly tried to contact Neal directly.

''I left a message on his cellphone," Casserly told Borges. ''I don't know if he got it or not. I never got to talk to Steve. But our offer was a signing bonus between $5 million and $6 million. It probably would have ended up at $5.5 million.
And Casserly TRIED to keep Givens in town in Houston. But wasn't successful.
 
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Basically, Neal's agent didnt let him visit the Texans, who were offering $5mil+ in guaranteed money vs. the $3.2m he got from the Pats. 
You don't see this as a problem?
Neal's agent was apparently worried that Casserly was going to hold his client hostage in Houston until he signed a deal. Because that's what Choo Choo Charlie tried to do to David Givens. Now Casserly is saying that he contacted Neal, going AROUND the agent, and tried to offer him that $5 million guaranteed money deal.If that's true, Casserly is in clear violation of NFL rules.
It's not.Givens is in Tennessee.

Casserly has been in the NFL a long long time. There's no way (if) if he called Neal and avoided his agent that he'd admit to it.

ETA things could have happenned but there's some wrinkles in your statement
Um... He DID admit to it:
As to Neal, Texans G.M. Charley Casserly was suspicious as to whether the veteran Patriots guard really was a "free" agent.  After Hurst "refused" to bring Neal to Houston for a visit, Hurst told Casserly:  "It's just not going to work out."

So Casserly tried to contact Neal directly.

''I left a message on his cellphone," Casserly told Borges.  ''I don't know if he got it or not.  I never got to talk to Steve.  But our offer was a signing bonus between $5 million and $6 million.  It probably would have ended up at $5.5 million.
And Casserly TRIED to keep Givens in town in Houston. But wasn't successful.
he left a message and didn't talk to him.I know you'll think that's nitpicking and it sorta is but he could easily say he didn't break any rules and talk to him

 
Basically, Neal's agent didnt let him visit the Texans, who were offering $5mil+ in guaranteed money vs. the $3.2m he got from the Pats.
You don't see this as a problem?
Neal's agent was apparently worried that Casserly was going to hold his client hostage in Houston until he signed a deal. Because that's what Choo Choo Charlie tried to do to David Givens. Now Casserly is saying that he contacted Neal, going AROUND the agent, and tried to offer him that $5 million guaranteed money deal.If that's true, Casserly is in clear violation of NFL rules.
It's not.Givens is in Tennessee.

Casserly has been in the NFL a long long time. There's no way (if) if he called Neal and avoided his agent that he'd admit to it.

ETA things could have happenned but there's some wrinkles in your statement
Um... He DID admit to it:
As to Neal, Texans G.M. Charley Casserly was suspicious as to whether the veteran Patriots guard really was a "free" agent. After Hurst "refused" to bring Neal to Houston for a visit, Hurst told Casserly: "It's just not going to work out."

So Casserly tried to contact Neal directly.

''I left a message on his cellphone," Casserly told Borges. ''I don't know if he got it or not. I never got to talk to Steve. But our offer was a signing bonus between $5 million and $6 million. It probably would have ended up at $5.5 million.
And Casserly TRIED to keep Givens in town in Houston. But wasn't successful.
he left a message and didn't talk to him.I know you'll think that's nitpicking and it sorta is but he could easily say he didn't break any rules and talk to him
I think it was a way to take a shot at Neal's agent but he's got little out. IF he had signed Neal as a result of this phone call, even Casserly has to know that the contract would have been voided by the NFL.
 
Does anyone have a link to a source for this stuff?
Boston.com Link
Hometown discounts are one thing. Unfair advantages are something else. Houston general manager Charley Casserly believes he knows the difference. Casserly was among several teams pursuing Patriots guard Stephen Neal and he thought the Texans had a good chance of landing him. Then the negotiations ended before they ever started, and Casserly smelled a rat. Neal is represented by Jonathan Hurst, an associate whose office address and phone number are the same as his employer, longtime agent Neil Cornrich. Cornrich is under a one-year suspension by the Players Association for using NFLPA information against the estate of the late Derrick Thomas in a wrongful death suit following the auto accident that took Thomas's life. He has long been closely associated with Patriots coach Bill Belichick, once boasting on his website that he was Belichick's agent and acknowledging that he did work as his attorney. Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri fired Cornrich after Cornrich's suspension and said he was ''going with someone in Neil's office." That was Hurst, but Vinatieri turned to Gary Uberstine (Willie McGinest's agent) after having doubts that Hurst was considering all the options available to him. It seemed to Vinatieri that Hurst was pushing him back to New England. Whether Hurst was or not, Vinatieri told people in Green Bay he feared that was the case. After two weeks of getting nowhere, Uberstine was hired, and less than a week later, he had Vinatieri signed to the fattest contract for a kicker in NFL history. With that as background, Casserly grew suspicious of the legitimacy of Neal's free agency after Hurst canceled a meeting with the Texans. According to Casserly, Hurst told him, ''It's just not going to work out." Casserly asked how it could since the team had yet to meet with Neal or make a formal offer. When Hurst refused to bring Neal to Houston, Casserly said he was going to call the player directly. ''I left a message on his cellphone," Casserly said. ''I don't know if he got it or not. I never got to talk to Steve. But our offer was a signing bonus between $5 million and $6 million. It probably would have ended up at $5.5 million. The average of the [four-year] deal would have been $3 million a season, including the signing bonus. Go look what they signed him for." The Patriots signed Neal to a four-year contract worth $10.5 million that included a signing bonus of $3.2 million and base salaries of $600,000 in 2006, $1.7 million in '07, $2.1 million in '08, and $2.5 million in '09. The contract includes four yearly workout bonuses of $106,160. The bigger point, in Casserly's mind, was that such deals usually end up being only two-year contracts before they're renegotiated or the player is terminated. If that happens, Neal's deal will bring him a total in bonuses and salary of $5.7 million from the Patriots, only $200,000 more than his signing bonus alone would have been in Houston. ''You figure out what happened," Casserly said. ''He was never really a free agent. It was all just for show." Whatever it was, it was a good deal for the Patriots, who signed Neal to a deal roughly $1.5 million less than he would have received in Houston.
 
If that agent did this than he is a complete moron. In the big scheme of things Neal's contract isn't that big and if he's risking his livlihood for that amount of money than he's beyond an idiot.
Actually, if this is true, the agent was sacrificing money on the Neal deal for future business with Belichick, not risking his livelihood for the money he'd make on the Neal deal.
 
If that agent did this than he is a complete moron. In the big scheme of things Neal's contract isn't that big and if he's risking his livlihood for that amount of money than he's beyond an idiot.
Actually, if this is true, the agent was sacrificing money on the Neal deal for future business with Belichick, not risking his livelihood for the money he'd make on the Neal deal.
Not if he was getting kickbacks.
 
If that agent did this than he is a complete moron.  In the big scheme of things Neal's contract isn't that big and if he's risking his livlihood for that amount of money than he's beyond an idiot. 
Actually, if this is true, the agent was sacrificing money on the Neal deal for future business with Belichick, not risking his livelihood for the money he'd make on the Neal deal.
If he misrepresented Neal than he probably loses future clients as well as facing union and/or league discipline. There is no way that any future business with BB is worth that risk.
 
Ron Borges wrote this story. He's an arrogant jerk who is hellbent on dumping on BB. He has been made to look like a fool locally by continuously questioning what BB does and being proven wrong time and again. Not saying this isn't true but I would have a ton more faith in this story if another writer other than Borges was the one reporting it. Since this is a potentially big story, if this is true than that will probably occur.

 
If that agent did this than he is a complete moron.  In the big scheme of things Neal's contract isn't that big and if he's risking his livlihood for that amount of money than he's beyond an idiot. 
Actually, if this is true, the agent was sacrificing money on the Neal deal for future business with Belichick, not risking his livelihood for the money he'd make on the Neal deal.
Not if he was getting kickbacks.
That's quite an allegation, but yes, that would be part of the "future business with Belichick".
 
Isn't Casserly also the guy who suggested that LenDale White made a backdoor deal with some team in the first round, and that's why he showed up fat to his workout?

Hey, Oliver Stone, lay off the cough syrup, mmmm-kay?

The Borges point is a good one. He knocked Belichick from the start, refused to admit he was wrong, and is now a bitter little man looking for anything to knock the current regime.

 
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Isn't Casserly also the guy who suggested that LenDale White made a backdoor deal with some team in the first round, and that's why he showed up fat to his workout?

Hey, Oliver Stone, lay off the cough syrup, mmmm-kay?

The Borges point is a good one. He knocked Belichick from the start, refused to admit he was wrong, and is now a bitter little man looking for anything to knock the current regime.
I still chuckle everytime I think about Borges being so arrogant as he mocked everyone for thinking the Pats were stupid for dumping Bledsoe and hitching their wagon to Brady. It wasn't just that his opinion was so idiotic and just plain wrong but he was so sure he knew more than everyone else. You know it just drives him nuts that he's now used as comic fodder on WEEI.
 
Another Sportswriter on the Same Site, from a week ago (way down the page)

Give Patriots guard Stephen Neal credit for his honesty. When reflecting on his first foray into unrestricted free agency, he admitted he had no idea what to expect. He also acknowledged the Patriots weren’t his first choice, and that money was a strong factor in his decision-making process. It’s rare to hear such candor.

“To be honest with you, if I could be closer to California, that was going to be a big deal,” Neal, a San Diego native, told a group of reporters Thursday at Gillette Stadium. “But it didn’t work out that way. The Patriots were the best fit for me and I’m glad to be back.”

The 29-year-old Neal, who has started the last 30 regular-season games at right guard, confirmed that he visited with the Vikings, Bills and Dolphins during free agency. A scheduled trip to the Texans was cancelled at the last moment. On the role of money in negotiations, Neal said “it is not the most important thing” but it’s “up there.”

Neal’s four-year deal is worth approximately $10.5 million. It included a $3.2 signing bonus, a workout bonus of $106,160 in 2006, and workout bonuses of $106,720 in each season from 2007-2009.

With Neal under contract through 2009, the Patriots now have five of their top seven linemen signed for multiple seasons: Matt Light (2010), Logan Mankins (2009), Nick Kaczur (2009) and Brandon Gorin (2007). Center Dan Koppen and center/guard Russ Hochstein have contracts that expire after 2006.

Asked about the role of continuity on the offensive line, Neal said the longer you play with teammates “you feel more comfortable and don’t have to say as much because you know what the other person will do.” Neal said he learned a few different things from going through the free agent process, and one reflected positively on the Patriots. “Everyone has a lot of respect for this organization,” he said.
 
Okay so the agent made him aware of the contract offer from the Texans. Ethical violation avoided.
I didn't see that in either article.?????
I inferred that since there was a scheduled visit with the Texans at some point, that Neal was aware of a semi-concrete offer close to what is being reported.If it came out later that a team was offering Neal more than his agent told him, don't you think Neal would've... I dunno... gotten upset?

I only have a problem with this if the Texans told the agent their offer was $x and the agent lied about what x was to Neal.

 

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