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On To The Next One: Anthony Spencer

NFL linebacker Anthony Spencer was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys with the club’s 1st round (#26 overall) pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.  Spencer has remained with the Cowboys since that date.  In fact, the Cowboys would like Spencer to continue to be a member of the team going forward, and has slapped the Franchise Tag on him.  He has not signed the Tag to date, but in the meantime, has decided to make a change of representation.

Spencer was formerly represented by Roosevelt Barnes of Maximum Sports Management.  He recently switched over to Jordan Woy of Willis & Woy Sports Group.  Woy happens to be based in Dallas and is a member of the State Bar of Texas.

Since the Franchise Tag was placed on Spencer prior to his change of representation, will he still owe an agent commission fee to Barnes once he ends up signing a deal with the Cowboys?  If so, will it be a percentage of the prior agreed upon fee between Spencer and Barnes or the entire amount?  If Barnes is left with nothing, I have to assume that Barnes will file a grievance against Spencer.

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.

One reply on “On To The Next One: Anthony Spencer”

From the article, it doesn’t seem like Barnes had much to do with the Cowboys slapping the Franchise tag on him. It seems the Cowboys were making a business move rather it being the product of a Barnes-Cowboys negotiation or Barnes-Cowboys parole oral/written understanding. I don’t think that Barnes has a claim for all or even a portion of the fee collected for the franchise tag.

Barnes may argue that he did play a role in the Cowboys slapping the franchise tag. Hypothetically, he could say that he consistently had dinner with the GM and over time eased them into the idea of putting the franchise tag on his client. There are many things he could say, but Barnes would essentially be arguing Unjust Enrichment if he were to not get his desired compensation connected to the franchise tag. Essentially, he would explain that the new agent would be unjustly enriched for directly benefiting/profiting the franchise tag which was to whatever extent, his (Barnes) work-product whilst representing Spencer.This could be dead wrong since im not sure how common law principles apply in the NFL context..

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