Confessions Of An Agent

Why am I doing this? Why am I telling everything? There are a few small reasons and one big one.

People should know how the agent business really works, how widespread the inducements to players are and how players have their hands out. It isn't just the big, bad agents making them take money. People think the NFLPA is monitoring agents, but it is mostly powerless. People should also be aware of all that an agent does for his clients. Catering to their needs can be an all-consuming job.

But those are the small reasons.

Recently, my nine-year-old daughter got an iTouch, and she has figured out how to get on the Internet. My six-year-old is not far behind. At some point, they are going to Google their daddy's name, and before this story they would have found only page after page of stuff saying how I was suspended. I was a good agent and I took care of my players. I don't want my career to be defined by that suspension.

Nobody would care about my version of what happened with Keenan Howry's $5,320 check unless I came clean about everything else. As I said earlier, you have to leverage what you've got to get what you want. What I had to leverage were the stories about paying players and all the other dirt.

Now, maybe, when my daughters Google me, they will see that I worked hard to give them a good life. And for those people who will call me a cheater for paying players and breaking NCAA rules, or who will think I am a snitch for telling how the agent business works, well, I'll just say what so many players said to me over the years:

Sorry, I gotta do what is best for me and my family.