Be on time. Be prepared. And know something about the organization -- not to mention the names of the people -- with whom you're interviewing.
It sounds simple enough, but the typical advice given to a college senior trying to land his or her first job also applies to the football players at the Senior Bowl -- who can't only rely on great practices this week in Mobile, Ala. For the players, it's just as important to prove their off-the-field value as a necessary step to boosting their draft stock.
Since the majority of the Senior Bowl prospects -- believed to be in between 75 and 85 percent -- currently have representation, it's the agent's job to prepare their player for the first phase of questioning they'll encounter from NFL personnel.
The off-the-field get-to-know-you usually begins with simple questionnaires -- sometimes slipped under a hotel room door to be returned in the morning, while other times it's a take-it-now setting. The agents might go through the questions with the player or they might actually go as far as to fill in the sheets for their clent.
And there's no limit to how arcane the questions might be. Any past problems with the law almost always gets asked, but strange hobbies could also enter the conversation. At the 2000 Senior Bowl, teams asked why Florida tight end Erron Kinney liked to collect fire engines. Last year, at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, teams wondered why Auburn wide receiver Ronney Daniels liked to paint his toenails before games.
|
“ |
The NFL's biggest fear is that you have a guy that is built like Tarzan, works out like Tarzan and plays like Jane. ” |
|
|
— Agent Robert Alterman |
Good agents make sure their players know how to answer the standard questions correctly. When asked if a change of position would be acceptable, the answer should always be something like "whatever it takes to be part of the team." When asked if a player plans to live in his playing city full-time or part-time, the answer should always be "full time," since teams usually want players to become part of the local community.
Prepping by the agent is vital for a player because teams often choose to follow up the standard questionnaire and informal interview with more rigid psychological and intelligence tests. Although the standard Wonderlic test is not usually taken at this time, some teams want to delve deep from the beginning.
The New York Giants are famous for using a 400-question test. In reality, the test is closer to 100 questions, but the same questions are rephrased over and over to see if the player provides a consistent answer. Also included on Giants' test are 60 sentence fill-ins, such as "The last time I wanted to punch someone was…" and "When I die, my tombstone will read…" While the Wonderlic is typically a 12-minute test, the Giants test could take two hours.
Many teams tend to use the same tests year after year, so many agents keep copies of them and go over the questions with their players before they take the test.
Some agents feel it's important to remind their player that the decision-makers are the ones entirely in control
"You have to know your audience," said agent Pat Dye Jr., who represents three Senior Bowl players: Fred Weary and Will Overstreet of Tennessee and Auburn's Tim Carter.
"For the most part, they're old school conservative guys who like guys to show up on time. If your players are interviewing with the Seattle Seahawks, you better let them know what you think makes (GM & head coach) Mike Holmgren (who will be coaching the North team) tick. You have to be prepared with who you are talking to since all team personnel are a little bit different."
Just knowing the right names with the right teams can go a long way, says Asher Golden, president of Golden Media Group, an athlete media training and consultancy firm that has been hired by the Gridiron Classic in Orlando, Fla., to prepare players for their interviews with teams. Since Golden believes that each player should be able to drop the name of any position coach with whom he interviews, the players at the Gridiron Classic are provided with a cheat sheet of position coaches for all 32 NFL teams.
The agent is also busy preparing his player for the on-the-field practices at the Senior Bowl, which usually mean more than the game since most NFL personnel leave Mobile on Thursday. And the preparation for this professional coming out party begins as much as a month before arriving in Alabama.
As soon as an agent signs a player, he is off to a strength and conditioning camp. IMG has its own camp in Bradenton, Fla., Octagon sends its players to different camps based on specific needs and Dye Jr. sends his players to Chip Smith’s camp in Atlanta -- where players like Champ Bailey and Brian Urlacher have worked out in recent years. Before Senior Bowl week, a good agent will speak to as many scouts from as many teams as possible to gather perceptions about his player based on game film. Agents say that they have to be honest with their players about their weaknesses as much as their strengths if the player is going to improve his stock in the scout's eyes.
When it comes time for Senior Bowl week, agents have to continue to get feedback from scouts and relay the information to their player in order to make adjustments on a daily basis. One of the toughest calls for the agent is how to deal with a player if he is hurt. While most agents will tell the scouts that a player is hurt, it is usually up to the agent to instruct the player whether to keep practicing or playing.
Last year, Dye Jr.'s client (Georgia DT) Marcus Stroud had back spasms on Wednesday in Mobile, and although Stroud said he was uncomfortable, Dye Jr. told him that teams wanted to know if he could play with pain. Stroud kept playing and was eventually drafted as the 13th overall pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"The scouts are not going to say, 'He's 20 percent hurt, so we'll add 20 percent to his performance evaluation," said one prominent agent with Senior Bowl clients, who requested anonymity. Other agents argue that if a small injury isn't taken care of right away, it could develop into a chronic one which can carry over to the NFL combine.
The Senior Bowl might be the only time before the draft that scouts get to see top-rated players interacting with other top-rated players before April's draft.
"The NFL's biggest fear is that you have a guy that is built like Tarzan, works out like Tarzan and plays like Jane," said Robert Alterman, who represents Carlos Hall and Jermaine Petty from Arkansas, both of whom will be playing in the Senior Bowl.
For the most part, those that crack the Senior Bowl rosters aren't worried about getting drafted. In any given year, at least 90 percent of the players who participate in Mobile end up getting drafted. But play on the field and conduct off of it during this important week, guided by the hands of an agent, begins the process of paring down the roughly 10 percent who will eventually call themselves a first-round pick.
Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at Darren.Rovell@espn.com.
| |
|
