Agent Spotlight: Zeke Sandhu

It was not too long ago that Zeke Sandhu found himself in one of the most powerful sports agencies: Lock, Metz & Malinovic (LMM). In fact, the NFLPA still has him listed as an agent for the company. The NFLPA should update its database!

Zeke Sandhu was listed as one of the agents representing 3 star players for Arizona-based LLM in this past year’s NFL draft. Those players are: Vernon Davis (formerly of Maryland), Jimmy Williams (formerly of Virginia Tech), and Laurence Maroney (formerly of Wisconsin). Originally, it looked as if all 3 players were going to leave LLM and remain represented by Zeke, but that ended up not being the case. Sandhu would be dropped from the Standard Representation Agreements (SRAs) of Jimmy Williams and Laurence Maroney but was left on the SRA of Vernon Davis. Thus, Zeke still made a little bit of money this past draft.

But why was Sandhu no longer an employee of LLM? Zeke left LLM to be hired by David Dunn’s firm, Athletes First, in an effort by Dunn to land Vernon Davis as a client. Dunn was not successful. As a sidenote, Mr. Sandhu approached CAA and Octagon before becoming part of Dunn’s team.

On July 22, 2006, ProFootballTalk.com speculated that Vernon Davis would move with Zeke Sandhu to “Sandhu’s new shop, if/when he ever finds one.” That day may soon be approaching. An anonymous inside source has reported to me that Zeke Sandhu has already started the plans to create his own agency. The rumor is that he will be partnering with Rodd Newhouse and Brushuad Callis. Rodd Newhouse currently works for Scouts Inc. and is the former player personnel director of the Arizona Cardinals. He also has a blog on ESPN. Brushuad Callis has done marketing for Todd France clients in the past, and will likely handle marketing for Zeke Sandhu’s clients.

It should be interesting to see how this story progresses if/when Zeke Sandhu starts his own agency. Will he be blackballed from the other powerhouses for his unethical past behavior? Does this remind you of Ari Gold’s situation in Entourage; leaving his old agency and trying to bring his clients along with him as he creates his own shop?

[tags]zeke sandhu, sports agent, sport agent, sports agents, sport agents, vernon davis, entourage, ari gold, jimmy williams, laurence maroney[/tags]