There are 133 newly certified NFLPA Contract Advisors who successfully passed the NFLPA’s entrance exam and paid the required dues. It will be a challenge for many of these new agents to sign any players leading up to the 2013 NFL Draft. The cost to compete is high and the competition is fierce. Further, signing players does not guarantee that they will be drafted by an NFL team or be picked up in free agency thereafter. It is the risk people take when they decide to spend the money and time to prepare for and take the NFLPA’s mandatory examination and then hit the recruiting trail.
One of the 133 new NFLPA Contract Advisors is Tommy Kellis of New Bern, North Carolina. Kellis is a graduate of the Thomas Cooley Law School and practices law in coastal North Carolina. He is active on Twitter (@TommyKellis) and enjoys the outdoors. Along with his partner Mark Spivey, he is catching the attention of the football industry based on the number of early signings he has accumulated for his company, TAK Sports Agency.
TAK, which comprises the initials of Thomas Arrowood Kellis, has already signed up five players coming out of college. Those players are:
- Justin Blash, defensive tackle from Albany State;
- Markus Lawrenece, offensive lineman from Winston-Salem State;
- Tim Lelito, offensive lineman from Grand Valley State;
- Jeremiah Schwartz, fullback from Hampton; and
- Brynden Trawick, safety from Troy.
Kellis and Spivey are also two of the few football agents that provide their marketing brochure for the public to view. It provides their company’s mission statement, expected earnings, BLESTO/National Scouting Reports, college all-star games, training, NFL combine, the Wonderlic test and more. In all, the document is 23 pages in length.
Time will tell whether I can agree with TAK’s recruiting strategy, but as a fan of openness, I like that the company has decided to provide its marketing brochure for the world to see.
