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CAA Is Going To Kill The NFL Draft

Creative Artists Agency logoLast year, I broke down how the first round of the NFL Draft went down.  CAA led the pack with 6 clients selected in the first round.  CAA was followed by Maximum Sports (5), and Octagon, BEST, FAME, and ProFiles Sports (all with 2 clients selected).  Having 6 first rounders would be cause for celebration for any agency, even CAA, who has some of the most well known NFLPA licensed agents in the world.  Could they possibly do better this weekend than a year ago?

Matthew Stafford, Jason Smith, and Brian Orakpo are guarantees to go in the first round.  Other CAA clients who have a strong/solid chance of being selected in the first round include Malcolm Jenkins, Brian Cushing, Jeremy Maclin, Knowshon Moreno, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Eben Britton, Josh Freeman, and James Laurinaitis.

Obviously it would be entirely ridiculous if 11 CAA clients were drafted in the first round, but look at the names listed above.  Could it not happen?  Even if CAA matches the number it put up last year (6) or does slightly better, the company will have a lot to be happy about.  It is rare to see any agency consistently capture a large amount of the top prospects in consecutive years.  And then there’s CAA.

CAA’s main competition last year was Eugene Parker of Maximum Sports, with 5 clients taken in the first round.  Eugene will have a sure first rounder again this year with Michael Crabtree.  Tyson Jackson is almost a certainty to be picked in the first round as well, but after those two, it looks like Maximum Sports won’t have anyone selected for a while.

Who will take Maximum Sports’s position from last year?  There really is no agency that has a chance to come even close to the number that CAA puts up.  Those in the distance, vying for 2nd place in number of first round selections, will include Octagon, BEST, Athletes First, and FAAM.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

3 replies on “CAA Is Going To Kill The NFL Draft”

Darren, nice article, I could’nt agree more, CAA are the big powerhouses and wow they’re doing a good job. Darren is it FAME or FAAM? Who are these guys? any more info?

Also do you think BEST with their never ending capital who were buying agents/agencies out are disapointed by this year’s draft? I kind of remember that this article was published on here saying BEST were the top agency in terms of money,power,clients etc. I may be wrong here. Not sure?

And also, which agents will have a good year regarding the NFL draft?

Thanks buddy,

Kam from the UK!

FAAM is France AllPro Athlete Management, owned by Atlanta-based agent Todd France. France is a big player in the game. He started with Career Sports & Entertainment (the company I interned with), before splitting off to form his own agency. CS&E hasn’t represented football players since.

No one has never-ending capital, but yes, BEST does spend pretty freely. The draft has not yet occurred, but I doubt there is much disappointment on their end. The only disappointment would come for all of us noting CAA’s utter dominance. It is something for everybody else to be very fearful of.

One agent in particular who stands to make some big strides is David Canter of DEC Management, who has a couple of Utah players that may be Day 1 guys.

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