When former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia appeared on Jon Gruden’s QB Camp series in the weeks preceding the draft, Pavia made it clear that he’s entering the NFL without an agent.
“I’m representing myself,” Pavia said. “I didn’t think it was fair that someone was gonna represent me and take five to 10 percent. . . . Ain’t nobody taking my money. I’ll tell you that.”
As the first Heisman finalist to go undrafted since 2014, Pavia currently ain’t got no money to take.
A good agent can be a difference maker for any prospect. A good agent works their contacts aggressively, and argues zealously for their clients. A good agent can get a player drafted higher than he would have been draft.
And if that’s not enough to get the player picked, a good agent can provide good advice as to which teams should be targeted in undrafted free agency. A good agent also can negotiate the best possible terms of a UDFA deal.
Surely, someone will offer Pavia a spot on the 90-man roster. And Pavia won’t have to pay an agent fee. (The maximum allowed fee is three percent, not five to 10 percent.) But Pavia could have used a skilled and experienced counselor and advocate.
Yes, however it goes for Pavia, he would have been better off if he had an agent who could have given him sound advice throughout the process, and who could have been furiously working the phones either to get him drafted by the right team or to attract an offer from the right place to launch his NFL career.
Read the full article here
