With the NFL Season underway, team injury reports have started to trend upwards. In just the first week of training camp, 7 players had suffered season-ending injuries due to torn ACLs. In addition to the pain and disappointment players endure during injuries, financial loss can also further their hardship. One way players can experience financial loss resulting from injury is through split language in their contracts. Split Language reduces a player’s salary if he suffers an injury that causes him to land on Injured Reserve. Teams will push for this on players with little leverage like undrafted free agents, mid to late-round draft picks, and injury-prone veterans. Furthermore, the amount of salary lost in a split varies based on the player’s salary, credited season, and league year, with a full table illustrated in the CBA. To provide a solution for this financial loss exposure, former 8-Year NFL Linebacker, Nick Greisen has developed an insurance product called Split Contract Coverage, which protects the portion of salary lost in exchange for an insurance premium. As an example, if an Undrafted Free Agent signed a minimum deal this season, worth $480,000, and were to suffer a season-ending injury his salary would drop down to $363,000. The Split Contract Insurance Policy, if purchased before the injury, would indemnify the player 60% of his lost wages tax-free in exchange for a $4,500 premium. The overall savings this product can provide is huge as Greisen’s research found that from 2013-2016, 60% of NFL contracts had Split Language resulting in $99,264,179 of salary lost.
In addition to the financial loss from contract splits, players with per-game roster bonuses are also susceptible to financial loss if injured. Per Greisen, in 2017 there were 290 players with per game roster bonuses and 57% of those players missed a game, resulting in a total of $31.167M lost. Greisen’s solution is a Roster Bonus Policy which indemnifies a player if he fails to collect his roster bonus due to accidental bodily injury, sickness, or disease. One player who purchased this policy is former Green Bay Packer Quarterback, Scott Tolzien. As the Packers front office philosophy is to negotiate deals with large roster bonuses, outside of transcended players like Aaron Rodgers, Tolzien was at risk to lose his weekly roster bonuses for every game he wasn’t on the 46-game roster. Having the Roster Bonus Policy provided a degree of protection in the case he were to be inactive due to injury/illness.
Both the Split Contract Coverage and Roster Bonus Policy not only benefits the player, but also the agent. In the Split Contract example mentioned earlier, the coverage would also pay out $3,510 to the agent, assuming they charge the 3% max commission. Lastly, other Player Insurance Solutions that Greisen and his employer, PFS, provide for NFL players is Critical Injury, Permanent Total Disability, Temporary Total Disability, and the Pre-Draft Critical Injury Policy which protects players for major injuries sustained during pre-draft activities.
Notable Deals
Below are some notable extensions over the last month including some market setting deals:
Notable Player-Agent Changes
Below are some recent Player-Agent changes:
Lastly, to cap off this month’s Agent Client Report, below is an updated snapshot of the Agent Industry:
Industry Snapshot (9.7.18)
*Contract Numbers are based off New Money. Client count per NFLPA list. Any additional questions on methodology can be sent to [email protected]*
- Players Under Contract with Representation: 2274 (includes players on NFI/IR)
- Active Agents: 469
Top Ten Agencies by Contracts under Management
1. CAA: $3.81B Contracts Under Management; 188 Clients
Top Agents:
- Todd France: 74 clients (45 co-repped)
- Jimmy Sexton: 58 clients (41 co-repped)
- Tom Condon: 48 clients (32 co-repped)
- Tory Dandy: 27 clients (14 co-repped)
2. Athletes First: $1.92B Contracts Under Management; 100 Clients
Top Agents:
- David Mulugheta: 21 clients (6 co-repped)
- Joe Panos: 20 clients (2 co-repped)
- Andrew Kessler: 16 clients (7 co-repped)
3. Lagardère Sports: $1.35B Contracts Under Management; 75 Clients
Top Agents:
- Joel Segal: 75 clients (23 co-repped)
- Chafie Fields: 22 clients (16 co-repped)
4. Rosenhaus Sports: $1.18B Contracts Under Management; 101 Clients
Top Agent:
- Drew Rosenhaus: 101 clients (7 co-repped)
5. Sportstars: $1.11B Contracts Under Management; 131 Clients
Top Agents:
- Jared Fox: 37 clients (31 co-repped)
- Brian Mackler: 31 clients (31 co-repped)
- Jonathan Perzley: 34 clients (26 co-repped)
- Alan Herman 28 clients (26-co-repped)
- David Butz: 26 clients (6 co-repped)
6. Rep 1 Sports Group: $720.72B Contracts Under Management; 53 Clients
Top Agents:
- Ryan Tollner: 25 clients (3 co-repped)
- Chase Callahan: 21 clients (1 co-repped)
7. Wasserman Media Group: $660.59M Contracts Under Management; 48 Clients
Top Agents:
- Doug Hendrickson: 37 clients (24 co-repped)
- C.J. Laboy: 25 clients (24 co-repped)
8. Select Sports Group: $629.42M Contracts Under Management; 81 Clients
Top Agents:
- Jeffrey Nalley: 27 clients (15-co-repped)
- Erik Burkhardt: 24 clients (5 co-repped)
- Andy Ross: 18 clients (6 co-repped)
9. SportsTrust Advisors: $478.48M Contracts Under Management; 39 Clients
Top Agents:
- Patrick Dye: 22 clients (6 co-repped)
- William Johnson: 15 clients (4 co-repped)
10. Priority Sports & Entertainment: $474.51 Contracts Under Management; 50 Clients
Top Agents:
- Mike McCartney: 25 Clients
- Kenny Zuckerman: 12 Clients
Previous Reports
- 2018 Free Agency Report
- January 2018 Report
- October 2017 Report
- September 2017 Report
- August 2017 Report
- July 2017 Report
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