bredskin Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Vinny seen driving in a Lincoln with agent Gary Wichard. http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFLDraft/Senior+Bowl/2003/notebook012104.htm Gary's Clients: http://www.protectmanagement.com/client_list.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPare Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 For all the grief that they get, Cerrato and Snyder do a better job than just about anybody at wooing agents. The end result is that they have a shot at just about any free agent that they want. It's basically co-opting the other guy's negotiator, and it's why the skins will continue to do well in the free agent game (that and Snyder's billion dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bredskin Posted January 22, 2004 Author Share Posted January 22, 2004 Darren Howard is a free agent, isn't he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novato Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Interesting, hope we can get Darren Howard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNorth Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I agree with SPare, danny & the rat do a great job selling the themselves & the skins to FAs. Howard would be a coup as the saints really want to hold on to him, we will likely have to overspend to aquire him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Snyder goes out of his way to have relationships with agents. He meets with them several times a year, on his dollar, to buy dinner, and just talk. Agents have commented that Snyder treates them like people rather than pariahs, which most NFL teams treat agents like. We actually WORK agents so they whisper in their clients ear that the Redskins are a good place to go. It's why we have been able to land free agents whenever we want without actually producing a winning team. Snyder and Cerrato do an excellent job in this capacity which helps this team. Another positive -- like the entire offseason last year was -- to like Cerrato and Snyder in our front office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gridironmike Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 If you were to go to one of those stadium events designed to market the Club Level, and Snyder and Cerrato surprised you with a personal sales pitch, could they talk you into upgrading to Club Level from regular season tickets? Would dinner do it? It can't be the food, so what is it that they are able to do better than the other guys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 The first thing they are able to do better than the other guys is have a willingness to do what they do. Agents have said most teams treat them like sh!t. The Redskins treat them very well. Call to speak to them regularly. Meet with them, not about specific clients, but about the game and just to keep in touch. Cerrato and Snyder essentially become friendly -- if not friends -- with agents who feel good about the team through their association with Snyder and Cerrato. Many other guys could do this same thing. They just don't seem to want to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griff Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I applaud Dan & Vinny in doing this. I would also be very interested to know which players in this years draft have selected him as their agent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Who cares if you can shmooz the agents how about getting the right FA here first and try to draft some starters with our 2nd round pick :doh: The draft will be a failure if we can't get at least 2 starters in the first 3 rounds, we need 3 if possible. I agree Art Danny is the man when it comes to getting the deal done. I am very curiuos what they will do this offseason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Betts may be a starter this year. Jacobs certainly projects as a starter, though we don't know if that projection will manifest itself. Most of us questioned the Betts pick because we didn't see how he was graded as well as the team had him graded. No one seriously questioned the Jacobs pick because that was as great a no-brainer for a pick as you'll ever see. A draft doesn't generally fully reveal itself for a success or failure for at least a few years if not several years. Our last draft, with just three picks, may have yielded two starters. Also may not have. We just don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Originally posted by Art No one seriously questioned the Jacobs pick because that was as great a no-brainer for a pick as you'll ever see. People just questioned it because of need, we didn't need another WR at that time. Especially when we got one in the first round (Coles). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 JB, We absolutely needed another receiver at the time. You don't run a wide open offense that spreads the field and routinely runs three and four receivers out there and not have a quality No. 3 receiver. You've seen the importance of quality at the No. 3 receiver spot with the Rams who run a similar pass-oriented offense as we did. Jacobs was an absolute and critical need. The fact that he didn't work out because of a freak injury that set him back hurt the team temendously as there is no reliable No. 3 receiver on the roster. The love affair with McCants aside, this team needed a No. 3 and no one filled that role. Jacobs had the physical tools and uniform rating to do just that. In Spurrier's offense this was a huge need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Art, we had McCants and we just signed Johnson in the offseason. We also had Russel coming back from his injury rookie seaon. We had 5 WR's we didn't need another, and it showed because he and Russel never played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Art do you think it was smart to draft 2 wr's with our first 2 picks???? When we had many more glaring holes at the time. Last I checked our WR's did pretty good the year before and that was without Coles. Then again the FO is a genious drafting 2 wr's for the first 2 picks when we need help on both lines :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 JB, When you have a need, like we had at receiver, it was absolutely smart to attempt to address that need with Coles and Jacobs. Just as I think we have a need at defensive line and I have proposed taking defensive line with all of our picks in past drafts hoping one or two of them work out. McCants hasn't emerged as a reliable No. 3 receiver yet. Johnson is nothing but a change of pace guy. Russell was returning from a knee injury. We ran a pass oriented offense where we need quality bodies to rotate in and out and create a deep threat. Under Spurrier the receiver position was absolutely crucial and when Jacobs fell to us as he did, you received a guy uniformly agreed to be a first-round choice in the second, and you filled an area Spurrier wanted bodies at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallyG3 Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I bet Vinny does some hypnosis type thing with those freaky eyes, like the snake in The Jungle Book. "Redskins are gooooooooood, money is baaaaaaaaaad. These aren't the droids you're looking for." I could see that in Bang cartoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Even Madder Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 The first thing they are able to do better than the other guys is have a willingness to do what they do. Agents have said most teams treat them like sh!t. The Redskins treat them very well. Call to speak to them regularly. Meet with them, not about specific clients, but about the game and just to keep in touch. This is, of course, total nonsense. Name one free agent who came to DC because of the good time Snyder showed him or because of his agent's special relationship with the front office. There aren't any. Free agents follow the money, as they should. They go to the highest bidder in all but extremely rare cases. With careers as short as they are in the NFL, who can blame them? What Snyder has done very well is outbid others. How did Coles get here? Snyder bid more than the Jets were willing to swallow. Trotter? Same thing. Thomas? Morton? Bruce Smith? Deion? Yep, yep, yep, yep. So yes, Snyder and Cerrato have cultivated relationships with agents, which hasn't really helped land free agents -- the money did that, and they deserve credit for it -- but it has help make the negotiations go faster. When the Skins get a hard-on for a free agent, contracts happen very fast. Credit the relationships with the agents for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fansince62 Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 agents aren't stupid.....they may like having their palms squeezed and knowing, loving glances snuck across the dinner plate....but they are in business to do the best for their clients: which translates to bucks for them. but this does set up an interesting situation. if anything, snyder et al set up a bad environment from an organizational pov by allowing players to supercede coaching perogatives and running directly to the owner. it's a players team! what player wouldn't like that? joe is now the sheriff and it will be his way or the highway. will the FO be able to adapt? in the end...it's about $$$$$$$$. that has been the magic of the FO personality!!! not some deepseeded appreciation for humanity and the welfare or sensitivities of agents - you know, the same guys who make impossible demands for lavar, champ, stephen davis....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakofthesouth Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 OK...I am uncertain of these players' Free agent statuts...but from this agent's list: Todd Heap. Wow. This would be a nasty addition. Jason Taylor. 'Nuff said. But, no team in their right mind would part w/ these players, so chances are, they aren't even available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 EM and Al, It shouldn't take a whole lot of deep thinking to appreciate that agents absolutely DO help direct their clients to destinations when they become free agents. It shouldn't take a whole lot to appreciate one reason we get the first shot at most of the guys we want is because we have a good working relationship with agents. I know EM is a person who simply refuses to give credit where credit is due to Snyder and Cerrato. For him, an unquestionably good thing like getting in good with player agents must be dismissed as unimportant. Fortuantely, reasonable men without a tremendous ax to grind against Snyder and Cerrato will appreciate how networking of this sort benefits the Redskins. The relationships we have with agents has helped get numerous free agents here. It's helped seal deals. It's helped set schedules for players as to who they go out and meet and when. While it is true Snyder treats players fairly and sometimes MORE than fairly when it comes to money, it is not true that players like Trotter and Thomas and Morton came here because they had no better offers. Morton, in fact, had a LAST minute better offer from the Jets just to avoid arbitration that he declined. Thomas didn't want to go anywhere else after coming here, and he could have easily gotten a deal surpassing what he did get here. Same with Trotter. Every team has examples of overspending on various free agents -- save perhaps the Eagles who prefer to have millions in reserve and do little with it. I understand how valuable these relationships are that Snyder and Cerrato have cultivated. I suspect most of us do. Some may just not want to admit the value we get from it out of irrational disdain for Snyder and Cerrato. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fansince62 Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 so one is irrational if he questions snyder? cmon now.........you have better cards than that up your sleeve!!! it's all about the kwan. nothing more. nothing less. to look at it any other way would be irrational! players aren't around very long. they have to get the best deal they can. their agents are SUPPOSED to get them the best financial deal possible. so, while playing footsie with an agent may get the ball rolling - it doesn't seal the deal. there's no harm in recognizing that snyder has a talent for closing a deal - the facts are obvious. just as the facts have indicated that he is not above undermining a coach or judging talent incorrectly to the detriment of the team. it's a bidniz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 No, it's not irrational to question Snyder. I've questioned Snyder and Cerrato. Questioning is good. Wondering at certain moves is great. We all do that and will do that. Irrational dislike though goes beyond questioning. It goes to simply refusing to give any credit where credit is due by denying even things other people say. This is not so much a trait I see in you. EM has it much more common to his personality though. Recognizing that is crucial when discussing things of this nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Even Madder Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I know EM is a person who simply refuses to give credit where credit is due to Snyder and Cerrato. For him, an unquestionably good thing like getting in good with player agents must be dismissed as unimportant. So nice to see you again, Mrs Cerrato! Scroll back up, kiddo: I did give them credit for being willing to pay what it takes to get the free agents. I also gave them credit for cultivating relationships that has allowed them to ink deals quickly. So calm down. But I'm right and you're wrong... again. While it is true Snyder treats players fairly and sometimes MORE than fairly when it comes to money, it is not true that players like Trotter and Thomas and Morton came here because they had no better offers. Morton, in fact, had a LAST minute better offer from the Jets just to avoid arbitration that he declined. They came here because we offered the most money. Who offered Trotter more money? [Redskins outbid Packers for Trotter Who offered Thomas more money? You're wrong about Morton, too: the Jets refused to match the voidables -- it was not a better offer, it was much worse. Prove me wrong: name one free agent who signed with the Skins because of his agent's relationship with Snyder or Cerrato who turned down a bigger contract elsewhere. Go ahead, just one. It just doesn't happen. Careers are short in the NFL, so players take the big paycheck. I am fully aware of the influence agents have on players, but agents are in it for the money, too. They get a percentage of their players contract -- are you telling me there's one agent out there who's willing to essentially give Vinny some of his paycheck just for taking him to dinner? Seriously, I can think of just a handful of players, usually in the declining years of their careers, who turned down bigger contracts to join a team/city/coach they liked. 99% just play for the biggest contract, as they should. Thinking otherwise is silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eparadox Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Name one free agent who came to DC because of the good time Snyder showed him or because of his agent's special relationship with the front office. There aren't any.[/b] I'm pretty sure Randy Thomas would have been offered more money if he had waited longer and visited more teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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