Over the past few months, I've interviewed a number of NFL and college players. After conducting those, I thought it'd be interesting to get a different perspective from an NFL agent.
I approached Rob London of Dow Lohnes PLLC who is the agent for Maurice Jones-Drew, Matt Forte, Rashad Jennings, Mike Walker and Antoine Bethea and he was more than happy to chat. One of the reasons I wanted to talk with Rob is that both Maurice and Forte are rising NFL stars. Here's what he had to say:
Retired Rookie (RR): Thanks for taking the time today. I know you did a bunch of traveling over the weekend to see a number of your clients' preseason games. Can you talk about the games and cities you were at?
Rob London (RL): Went to Miami. I was actually going to Green Bay for Desmond Bishop who's a linebacker up there, but plans changed and Desmond actually had a great game, he had an interception and a sack. If he keeps doing that, he's going to probably start over guys like AJ Hawk who was a first round draft pick. So, I went to Miami for the Jacksonville Jaguar-Miami Dolphin's game. I had 7 players total in that game - 6 Jaguars and 1 Dolphin. I had dinner with a number of the players at my Miami Dolphin client's house. You talk about football, but you just get to continue to build your relationships with your client which is always key in my business.
RR: What types of other stuff do you do with these guys from a business standpoint?
RL: There's a lot of business stuff that we do. My clients understand that they're NFL cache. It's similar to someone having a law degree or an MBA. Companies always want to use individuals whose names aren't tainted so they can associate it with their product - endorsement deals. My clients learn early on that we want to not only be the best football player on the field, but if their passion lies in business or another field, we explore those fields and get exposure so they can make an informed decision on other things they like to do in the offseason.
Maurice Jones-Drew from the Jaguars - he presents very well on a camera and he has a very quick wit. In the offseason, he actually went to broadcasting boot camp held in New Jersey. He was the youngest player there. Most of the players there were on the tail end of their career or even retired. Here you have a fourth year player who's concerned about his secondary craft talking on TV, radio or being a broadcaster. To start honing that skill now means that he's serious about, not only the present because he obviously worked out hard over the summer, but he's preparing for the future.
