Please stop blaming Kam's agent

[mikeak]

Ironically if Kam doesn't think the agent performs properly he will cut him.

I wonder what Kam will tell his agent if the agent asks for his future money to be moved into this year.....

His agent already pulled that on a different player and got in trouble for it.

Yea, that's a no no under this CBA. Borrowing money from your clients can land you in hot water.

Times have changed, it used to be the wild west. I remember Leigh Steinberg telling me that Troy Aikman loaned him the money for a down payment on his first home. Funny how times have changed.

Good points but my point was more that Kam would tell him no way. If Kam wants to change agents he wants to be free to do so. If kam wants to do that before the next big contract then Kam will do so.

It is a business all the way around and not just against the players by everyone for everyone. That is why they make so much to begin with (one of the reasons rather)

 

[MVP53]

If they really got within $900k during training camp and couldn't get the deal done then Kam has the worst agent in the history of sports...so yes I put a lot of the blame on him.

Or Kam told his agent to tell the Hawks to pack sand.[/quote]

Or that never really happened and was just public spin to make the Hawks look bad.

Seriously, how stupid would the Hawks have been to "move up" $3.1M of his contract and how otherworldly stupid would Kam have been to NOT take that?

 

[Sgt. Largent]

The problem is, many people are looking for a scape goat. Just like the people who run up tens of thousands of dollars in consumer debt, and then blame the banks when they want their money. It's a product of our culture.

I think we all know the buck stops at Kam, no matter what his agent says.

I'm just saying it's obvious what Kam is doing is a HORRIBLE business decision.........and personal decision because it's hurting his rep, legacy and personal relationships with his coaches, teammates and fans.

So IMO Keel does have some culpability with all this, he's not 100% clean. He should have put his foot down and told Kam he's not going to represent him if he wants to holdout. The ramification for Keel is if this implodes on Kam, then what player is going to hire the guy?

 

[Tinymac2]

I think Kam's got a bum agent. This deals only a year old. Poorly structured, which is an agent thing in my book.

Kam was one of my favorites but there's no I in team. It's time to fish or cut bait. It's too big of distraction and I imagine the lob, if it still exists, are all buds. Certainly effecting the play of the D. As much as I would like to just give Kam his way, you can't from a business standpoint. You would be opening the Pandora's box.

Still a lot of football left this year. Two tough games we had the lead in the 4th quarter. We haven't looked good but I love ugly wins.

 

[BlueTalon]

The problem is, many people are looking for a scape goat. Just like the people who run up tens of thousands of dollars in consumer debt, and then blame the banks when they want their money. It's a product of our culture.

It is condescending for you to imply that anybody who disagrees with you must be looking for a scape goat. Some probably are, but many others simply assess the situation differently than you do. You appear to be holding Kam's agent completely blameless in this situation, and mocking people who disagree with you ("too much Jerry McGuire"). Honestly, that doesn't do much for your credibility.

This holdout is mostly on Kam, but he's definitely getting some bad information from somewhere.

 

[Sports Hernia]

An agent can only act on what his principal instructs him to act upon. Doing anything else is malpractice. It would be like your attorney telling you that you need to plea out and you saying no, I want to go to trial--your attorney MUST take it to trial, or ask the court for permission to withdraw.

This situation went down two ways: (1) Kam calls Alvin Keels (who is a 757 guy and reps many players from that area) and says, "hey I want more money moved forward to 2016 or I am holding out." Keels says "Kam they won't re-do a deal with that much time left." Kam says, "do it, you work for me, or I'll find someone who will do it!" Or (2) Keels says, "Kam, you're 27, I think you're getting below market value, lets see if we can get more money." Kam says either "yes, let's do it," or "no way, I am not holding out and putting myself in financial trouble."

Either way, Kam and ONLY KAM, is the one who can make the decision. This isn't about Kam getting "bad advice." This is the exact garbage you hear from athletes that make 50 or 60 million dollars over a career and lose it all, only to think their agent gave them bad advice, not that they gambled it away and spent it maintaining a 20 man posse.

In this United States, you have freedom to contract. We are all presumed to be of sound mind and capable of reading the English language. Kam understood the CBA and how contracts work in his profession. Please stop blaming his agent for this mess. Kam Chancellor made the decision to hold out, period.

Scott Boras disagrees with your post, he cost his client Kendrys Morales millions of dollars a couple
of years back and he has done that with other clients. There are agents out there that want and demand total control of all decisions. I'm not claiming this is 100% the case here, but it is possible. The seed was planted in Kam's head by someone.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I think Kam's got a bum agent. This deals only a year old. Poorly structured, which is an agent thing in my book.

Good point no one's brought up in this blame game.

Keel is the idiot that brokered this horrible 5 year deal that gave Kam no leverage for 4 years, 2 full years after all the guaranteed money ran out.

 

[mikeak]

I think Kam's got a bum agent. This deals only a year old. Poorly structured, which is an agent thing in my book.

Good point no one's brought up in this blame game.

Keel is the idiot that brokered this horrible 5 year deal that gave Kam no leverage for 4 years, 2 full years after all the guaranteed money ran out.

While I agree that it is poorly structured deal the signing bonus is guaranteed money and everyone knows that it should be considered as part of the full contract. So he has guaranteed money in the last 2 years and lets be clear if he doesn't play this year nor the next 2 years he will owe that money back

He became the highest paid at his position. I am guessing that him and his agent accepted this and then made the agreement to have more in the last few years knowing if he performed the team would keep him. That is gambling on himself. Now when that plan is working out he suddenly says oh I want it guaranteed.

 

[jammerhawk]

Keels has hurt himself on this deal and I could see the agency relationship breaking down.

An agent is in a similar position to client as a lawyer, both are fiduciaries and owe a duty of utmost good faith to their client. If Keels advised Kam to hold out, then at the point of eventually knowing the Hawks were not going to budge in terms of redoing Kam's contract, he should have advised Kam accordingly and advised Kam of what steps were then in Kam's best interests. Assuming the agent is acting in good faith to his client which we probably should do, even if Alvin Keels has a rep of being a scumball then Kam is in the know of the consequences.

At that point if Kam rejected his advice then the agent should have warned Kam of all the potential consequences and if the impasse continued the strong likelihood would be that the impasse was coming from Kam and he was doing it against the advice of his agent and would be accepting the consequences. At some point the agent if honourable should withdraw from the situation if the client is hurting themselves against the best advice of the agent.

Keels is apparently without honour, his initial advice has now cost the client about $2 million, he remains the agent. Of Course this is on Kam, but the agent has facilitated this situation and bears some responsibility. To me Keels has lost a lot of credibility in this matter and his advice was poorly thought out.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I think Kam's got a bum agent. This deals only a year old. Poorly structured, which is an agent thing in my book.

Good point no one's brought up in this blame game.

Keel is the idiot that brokered this horrible 5 year deal that gave Kam no leverage for 4 years, 2 full years after all the guaranteed money ran out.

While I agree that it is poorly structured deal the signing bonus is guaranteed money and everyone knows that it should be considered as part of the full contract. So he has guaranteed money in the last 2 years and lets be clear if he doesn't play this year nor the next 2 years he will owe that money back

He became the highest paid at his position. I am guessing that him and his agent accepted this and then made the agreement to have more in the last few years knowing if he performed the team would keep him. That is gambling on himself. Now when that plan is working out he suddenly says oh I want it guaranteed.

I thought the base salary is only guaranteed once the season starts.........which I think is Kam's point in wanting a higher base salary.

He's out of bonus cash (except for 325k in 2017), so he wants a higher base so if he gets hurt during the season next year he's gonna get paid.

 

[mikeak]

^ I understand what he wants and you are correct base salary is only guaranteed once season starts

What I am saying is if a player gets $10 million signing bonus for 5 years then that is really not for signing. It is $2M / year for five years guaranteed.

If they only signed a one year deal they wouldn't get $10M signing bonus

Players are real good at ignoring the signing bonus as soon as they have played the first year of their contract.

 

[bmorepunk]

I'm guessing the OP is Chancellor's agent's agent.

 

[rjdriver]

If they really got within $900k during training camp and couldn't get the deal done then Kam has the worst agent in the history of sports...so yes I put a lot of the blame on him.

Or Kam told his agent to tell the Hawks to pack sand.[/quote]


Wasn't there an agent a few years ago who got his dates confused and forgot to file his client for FA or something hence costing him millions? I can't remember the details. Huge Faus Pas. Remember that or am I tripping? Clearly that cat is worse than Keels. Barely.

 

[BlueTalon]

If they really got within $900k during training camp and couldn't get the deal done then Kam has the worst agent in the history of sports...so yes I put a lot of the blame on him.

Or Kam told his agent to tell the Hawks to pack sand.

Wasn't there an agent a few years ago who got his dates confused and forgot to file his client for FA or something hence costing him millions? I can't remember the details. Huge Faus Pas. Remember that or am I tripping? Clearly that cat is worse than Keels. Barely.

You are remembering it clearly. It was a star defensive player in Denver. The agent muffed the situation badly, creating a bad situation for both the Broncos and his client, who ended up going to the Ravens.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

If they really got within $900k during training camp and couldn't get the deal done then Kam has the worst agent in the history of sports...so yes I put a lot of the blame on him.

Or Kam told his agent to tell the Hawks to pack sand.

Wasn't there an agent a few years ago who got his dates confused and forgot to file his client for FA or something hence costing him millions? I can't remember the details. Huge Faus Pas. Remember that or am I tripping? Clearly that cat is worse than Keels. Barely.

You are remembering it clearly. It was a star defensive player in Denver. The agent muffed the situation badly, creating a bad situation for both the Broncos and his client, who ended up going to the Ravens.

Elvis Dumervil.

Dumervil went off last year (17 sacks), and makes like half of what Ware makes........so my guess is the Broncos still would like to have that one back.

 

[seahawks08]

I am sure Kam's agent is also losing money when Kam not getting paid. The agents are normally lawyers who have a better understanding of how contracts work and they do the best to get player friendly contracts. It's the agents responsibility while getting the deal together is to go through them and apprise their clients. What happened is after he signed, he sees people in the team getting paid more and he feels he does all the hard hitting and dirty work not knowing how long he will play. I get all that, but this is a business, you can either reach a point where you are happy with not making another dime with this league and retire, or work within the rules to accept the best offer he got from the Seahawks, if the reports are true. Anyways, I am hoping all this ends soon, thats what i wish for him and the Seahawks.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

You hire a lawyer to defend you, you answer his questions and he defends you or works out contracts etc. When it comes to a point where he needs you to choose something he asks you. You are not there every day telling him how to do his job. Not so different with a sports agent, Kam obnviously wanted a tweek of his contract, told the Agent, agent is working the situation, if Kam wanted to end the hold out he would just need to call the Agent and tell him I am ending the hold out but continue, or were going to end it and try the off season, or have his agent work something for a trade.

Kam pulls the strings, the Agent works the situation, till Kam says not too.

This guy gets it. All Kam would have to do is get on a plane and show up at the VMAC and the hold out is over, he's not even obligated to tell his agent he's showing up.

The problem is, many people are looking for a scape goat. Just like the people who run up tens of thousands of dollars in consumer debt, and then blame the banks when they want their money. It's a product of our culture.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

You hire a lawyer to defend you, you answer his questions and he defends you or works out contracts etc. When it comes to a point where he needs you to choose something he asks you. You are not there every day telling him how to do his job. Not so different with a sports agent, Kam obnviously wanted a tweek of his contract, told the Agent, agent is working the situation, if Kam wanted to end the hold out he would just need to call the Agent and tell him I am ending the hold out but continue, or were going to end it and try the off season, or have his agent work something for a trade.

Kam pulls the strings, the Agent works the situation, till Kam says not too.

This guy gets it. All Kam would have to do is get on a plane and show up at the VMAC and the hold out is over, he's not even obligated to tell his agent he's showing up.

The problem is, many people are looking for a scape goat. Just like the people who run up tens of thousands of dollars in consumer debt, and then blame the banks when they want their money. It's a product of our culture.

Who is John Galt?

 

[CodeWarrior]

You hire a lawyer to defend you, you answer his questions and he defends you or works out contracts etc. When it comes to a point where he needs you to choose something he asks you. You are not there every day telling him how to do his job. Not so different with a sports agent, Kam obnviously wanted a tweek of his contract, told the Agent, agent is working the situation, if Kam wanted to end the hold out he would just need to call the Agent and tell him I am ending the hold out but continue, or were going to end it and try the off season, or have his agent work something for a trade.

Kam pulls the strings, the Agent works the situation, till Kam says not too.

This guy gets it. All Kam would have to do is get on a plane and show up at the VMAC and the hold out is over, he's not even obligated to tell his agent he's showing up.

The problem is, many people are looking for a scape goat. Just like the people who run up tens of thousands of dollars in consumer debt, and then blame the banks when they want their money. It's a product of our culture.

Who is John Galt?

+1 for the literati.

 

[seahawkfreak]

Elvis went on to fire his agent right after too. I think this is what has to happen if Kam comes back soon, even if it's not the agents fault.