Roquan was sought after by some of the best agents and he turned them all down

bearsfan1977

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I’ve said it before. I’m a die-hard UFA fan and I’ve never really been a huge fan of Roquan. A very good player-just not game-changing elite. Paying him more than D. Leonard is crazy, IMO.

Plus he’s an off-ball LB. I obviously have no issue with him trying to get every penny he can, and if he can set the market for ILBs, cool. I just hope the Bears get a relatively high pick back for him down the road.
 

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Without a certified agent, Smith has had to directly negotiate with the Bears on his own, as advisors aren’t permitted to engage on his behalf. Such situations aren’t common but do occur in the NFL. Texans offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil negotiated a three-year, $66-million contract extension in 2020 with the help of Omni, who was quoted on the record in a 2021 feature by Complex. Cardinals star receiver DeAndre Hopkins worked out a two-year, $54.5-million deal on his own behalf in 2020, and Rams veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner, who has worked with LifeLine Financial Group, was the point man on the five-year, $50-million deal he reached with the team in April. Ravens star quarterback Lamar Jackson, the 2019 NFL MVP, is working without an agent as he looks to land a record-breaking deal.
 

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Without a certified agent, Smith has had to directly negotiate with the Bears on his own, as advisors aren’t permitted to engage on his behalf. Such situations aren’t common but do occur in the NFL. Texans offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil negotiated a three-year, $66-million contract extension in 2020 with the help of Omni, who was quoted on the record in a 2021 feature by Complex. Cardinals star receiver DeAndre Hopkins worked out a two-year, $54.5-million deal on his own behalf in 2020, and Rams veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner, who has worked with LifeLine Financial Group, was the point man on the five-year, $50-million deal he reached with the team in April. Ravens star quarterback Lamar Jackson, the 2019 NFL MVP, is working without an agent as he looks to land a record-breaking deal.


“Shady as hell,” one league source said of Omni's practices.
 

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It's just not smart on Roquan's part. IDK if it's him just being cheap or what. SOmeone in the know was being nterviewed about this and said the market for good agents is so competitive that many agents charge as low as 1%. Thats nothing when you're talking about a 80-100 million dollar contract. I don't think Roquan liked what he heard in the meetings, something an agent would hve softened the words to Roquan. Roquan was butt hurt about hearing the truth. There is no doubt in my mind that if he had an agent, this deall would have been done.
 

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Agreed. It' such a low percentage and they pay for themselves with the deals they get. No matter what you are doing having an agent is nearly always the right thing. Unless roquan got a law degree at UGA he is doing himself a disservice.
 

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“Shady as hell,” one league source said of Omni's practices.

Yeah I am sure it is shady as hell from the perspective of NFL teams but it appears he has helped at least 2 players (Tunsil & Wagner) negotiate deals without an agent.
It's just not smart on Roquan's part. IDK if it's him just being cheap or what. SOmeone in the know was being nterviewed about this and said the market for good agents is so competitive that many agents charge as low as 1%. Thats nothing when you're talking about a 80-100 million dollar contract. I don't think Roquan liked what he heard in the meetings, something an agent would hve softened the words to Roquan. Roquan was butt hurt about hearing the truth. There is no doubt in my mind that if he had an agent, this deall would have been done.

If the Bears were not offering what he wanted then why do you think the deal would have gotten done? Unless you are saying an agent would have gotten the Bears to increase their offer I don't see an agent convincing him to take a deal Quan does not like. Agents work for the client not the other way around. If an agent tried to push Quan to accept a deal he did not like, Quan would just fire them.
 

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Yeah I am sure it is shady as hell from the perspective of NFL teams but it appears he has helped at least 2 players (Tunsil & Wagner) negotiate deals without an agent.


If the Bears were not offering what he wanted then why do you think the deal would have gotten done? Unless you are saying an agent would have gotten the Bears to increase their offer I don't see an agent convincing him to take a deal Quan does not like. Agents work for the client not the other way around. If an agent tried to push Quan to accept a deal he did not like, Quan would just fire them.
He isn’t a true bear and possibly a moron if he doesn’t take whatever contract they shove in his face
 

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This is where I think athletes can be "penny wise but pound foolish". My guess is that these athletes are trying to save the agent fee and think they have the skillset to represent themselves. With the amount of life changing money we're talking about on these contracts, you'd think that things like 1% fees are nominal and even when you see them push out negotiations a year or more over probably $2-3M per year differences... at what point does getting the slightly lower amount of money sooner in your hands and invested simply overcome the agent fee or $ amount difference that is holding off a deal? Throwing $18-$20M into an investment a year or two sooner pretty quickly returns more than these small differences. In the case of Roquan, I think there is as much pride and reputation holding things up as the $ figures. I think he wants to reset not only the ILB market price but potentially wants to reset the LB market as a whole and some of the edge rushers that includes puts that price tag pretty high out there.
 

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It is not just the negotiation skill that any agent brings (even though experience is critical), but also his relationships. If an agent represents more than one player on the team, that agent has leverage that can be used.

Additionally if an agent represents other players throughout the League there is a good chance that if you are going to be active in Free agency (hopefully next year), that you may run up against that agent again, and teams know it is best to not burn those bridges.

Finally, and likely the most important reason to have an agent, calmer heads prevail....Players are typically strong personalities that do not excel at remaining objective. Roquan may be intelligent, but he is at a disadvantage by representing himself
 

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Yeah I am sure it is shady as hell from the perspective of NFL teams but it appears he has helped at least 2 players (Tunsil & Wagner) negotiate deals without an agent.


If the Bears were not offering what he wanted then why do you think the deal would have gotten done? Unless you are saying an agent would have gotten the Bears to increase their offer I don't see an agent convincing him to take a deal Quan does not like. Agents work for the client not the other way around. If an agent tried to push Quan to accept a deal he did not like, Quan would just fire them.
Roquan was more pissed of about the deescalators and it being back loaded. The total of the deal from everything I have heard was quite generous. That combined with Roquan not being able to handle negative things being said about him is what killed these negotiations. No doubt that with an agent this would have gotten done.
 

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Yeah I am sure it is shady as hell from the perspective of NFL teams but it appears he has helped at least 2 players (Tunsil & Wagner) negotiate deals without an agent.
Its hard to negotiate with a layperson opposed to a professional. With a professional, there is floor of negotiations that you don't even have to talk about and that is eradicated when a layperson attempts to negotiate.

The NFLPA has agreed upon qualifications for agents. When an unqualified person tries to tiptoe around these qualifications it is always trouble. And many times the client does not even understand how unqualified their "agent" is to represent their interests.
 

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Roquan was more pissed of about the deescalators and it being back loaded. The total of the deal from everything I have heard was quite generous. That combined with Roquan not being able to handle negative things being said about him is what killed these negotiations. No doubt that with an agent this would have gotten done.

Was the agent going to get the backloading and deescalators removed? If so how?

Its hard to negotiate with a layperson opposed to a professional. With a professional, there is floor of negotiations that you don't even have to talk about and that is eradicated when a layperson attempts to negotiate.

The NFLPA has agreed upon qualifications for agents. When an unqualified person tries to tiptoe around these qualifications it is always trouble. And many times the client does not even understand how unqualified their "agent" is to represent their interests.

But in this case the layperson apparently already helped 2 other players get deals.

This is simple. Bears did not meet his asking price. An agent wasnt going to fix that.
 

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Also, agents generally are the ones pushing their clients to get more money not less. Especially if they have cut their commissions to 1%. The way they are going to recoup is by getting their client more money. So to think an agent is going to cut his rate to 1% and then advise Quan to take a deal that doesn't make him the highest paid ILB in the NFL given his credentials is just odd. If you think Drew Rosenhaus is going to walk in there and convince Quan to take 18m a year then I think you are dreaming. He does that and other agents are going to be telling prospective clients that he got hosed on the deal for not getting Quan more than Leonard when Quan is the only guy other than Ray Lewis with X number of tackles and X number of TFLs.

Agents negotiate based on data that is favorable to their client not the team. And based on what Quan said about the franchise tag and being open to it that suggests he was not being offered more than Leonard as if he is open to the franchise tag amount he most certainly would have been open to signing for more than Leonard. So if I can't get Quan more than Leonard then no way I tell him to sign if I am his agent. Period. From my perspective as an agent for Quan he is arguably the best ILB in the NFL or top 3 and as he is signing a year after Leonard and Quan when the cap has gone up there is no logical reason to accept less than Leonard unless Quan decides he is happy with less which he obviously isn't. Yall are arguing from the perspective of the team not Quan.
 
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Spitta Andretti

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Was the agent going to get the backloading and deescalators removed? If so how?



But in this case the layperson apparently already helped 2 other players get deals.

This is simple. Bears did not meet his asking price. An agent wasnt going to fix that.
Pretty sure it was just Tunsil. Article says Bobby Wagner had worked with lifeline before but he was the point man on his own contract, not Omni.
 

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Pretty sure it was just Tunsil. Article says Bobby Wagner had worked with lifeline before but he was the point man on his own contract, not Omni.

Quan was point on his contract as well by all accounts. As a player you still are going to need advice from people with a business or law background. The distinction the article is making is that Omni was confirmed by another publication (complex) as having helped Tunsil while his helping Wagner has not been confirmed but is rumored given their relationship.
 

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But in this case the layperson apparently already helped 2 other players get deals.

This is simple. Bears did not meet his asking price. An agent wasnt going to fix that.
I appreciate you always taking the contrarian side and the "f. the man" mentality. It always good to see the other side.

I have been involved with complicated negotiations with laypersons and they nearly always make things more difficult because they just don't know the ground rules. We aren't talking about buying a used car here, we are talking about a multi-faceted 8 digit contract and that is only something that a person of extreme experience and qualification should be handling... NOT a layperson.

And one of the worst parts is that the client thinks this "layperson" is a great cheerleader because they tell them everything they want to hear. Sometimes you have to tell your client "this term you want is unreasonable". The cheerleaders never do that. They just keep pumping them up right into a deal not happening. Not having a person of vast experience in a huge career making deal is absolutely foolish.
 

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Was the agent going to get the backloading and deescalators removed? If so how?



But in this case the layperson apparently already helped 2 other players get deals.

This is simple. Bears did not meet his asking price. An agent wasnt going to fix that.
A) No one knows factually if any of the backload /de-escalating components actually existed and if so to what degree. And calm heads can always work to solutions that benefit both parties.

B) Saint Omni, being not certified, could not help the players "get deals," all he could do was talk to the player outside of actual negotiations. So he is nothing more than a cheerleader for hire.

C)Part of an agents job is getting the player to understand what is realistic and fair, something that Roquan seems so far from grasping.

I am happy Poles seems to be ice cold and to stick to his core beliefs of value in the business of negotiations. Pace would have pissed himself and given Roquan an EddieJackson/Cody Whitehair/ Tyreek Cohen deal the minute he posted his little letter to the fans.

Gonna be fun watching Roquan pissing up the same rope next offseason
 

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Say Roquan Smith balls out this season, how much does anyone imagine he gains in value?
Is he worth $25M/yr? Even at DPOY that seems unlikely.
If so, as the Bears you simply franchise him at $18.5M and again the next season for $22M.

Does he sign an extension forShaq Leonard #'s at $19.7/season?

If so was it worth not having an extra $20M earning more money for a yr while risking career altering injury?

Barring a complete lowball offer at around $14-15M, which would be impossible unless Poles completely lied to the press, I see no upside to Smith carrying this ove for another season.
 

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Say Roquan Smith balls out this season, how much does anyone imagine he gains in value?
Is he worth $25M/yr?
If so, as the Bears you simply franchise him at $18.5M and again the next season for $22M.

Does he sign an extension forShaq Leonard #'s at $19.7/season?

If so was it worth not having an extra $20M earning more money for a yr while risking career altering injury?

Barring a complete lowball offer at around $14-15M, which would be impossible unless Poles completely lied to the press, I see no upside to Smith carrying this ove for another season.
His value will go up in line with the cap going up. Take the percentage when Leonard got his deal to next years cap and add that to Leonard deal so it would prob look something like that.
 

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