Local NFL agent Chad Wiestling helps Nestor understand the nuances of what an agent could be doing for Lamar Jackson and what the fans and media don’t understand about this negotiation.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
players, agent, lamar, deal, ravens, guaranteed, year, lamar jackson, franchise tag, team, played, money, point, quarterback, represent, baltimore, absolutely, outlier, business, franchise
SPEAKERS
Chad Wiestling, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
What about wn, st Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive, this is gonna be a great one. This is a guy who’s like local, and I should have had him out at Nacho Mama’s or Chaucer for crabcake. But you don’t want. I know Lamar Jackson to think these agents do anything. But these guys are like really, really busy because I know them in the real world. This guy have you run into him in the wise markets locally, someplace because he lives here in Baltimore. He’s been my friend for a long, long time. I don’t bug him much. But if you came OUT out of crabcake, I’d give you a Maryland lottery scratch off ticket, we get you up when donation 866 90 nation and our friends. And we would treat you with the respect that all agents in the National Football League should have this week. Because everybody wants to be Lamar Jackson station, Chad weaseling is here. He is a bit of friend of mine for a couple of decades, representing a variety of different kinds of players would probably at some point have sold his soul to have a quarterback like Lamar Jackson and said I’d love to represent that kind of guy has that kind of guy, Josh Jacobs at Alabama on our franchise tag player, and we welcome him in from you had a bad phone there. I’m assuming like in your study, it’s gonna look like the butler and Batman where there’s a red phone that just rings off the hook on the age. It’s 30. I can’t believe you made time for me during the tampering period. I’m really, I’m really happy.
Chad Wiestling 01:18
Yeah, no, no, thanks. Thank you for having us, sir. Do I have a bad phone? No, not really just my old school, I just have a basic one phone iPhone. So that’s all that’s all that I have. And the good thing now, why I was able to fit this in, as I told you earlier is that, you know, having a player that’s franchise tag, I really don’t have a lot going on, you know, I have, you know, that’s that franchise tag once they tag you, as the player. It gives everybody more time. So the deadline is now July 17. So, you know, that’s, you know, with the franchise tag, same with Lamar. I mean, obviously, the, the Ravens have until July 17 to renegotiate a deal or who or someone else to pick him up, sign him. But so there’s a little bit of time here. So I have, I have two other guys one was restricted, who got tendered this morning by the Patriots and I had another free agent that just resigned with his previous team to a one year deal with the Arizona Cardinals. So I’m just doing kind of cruise control right now. So thank you for having me.
Nestor Aparicio 02:20
Well, listen, man, I, I would love to have you for crabcake you just literally sit and talk at length about this because I’m not beating you up at anything current or Lamar and who you represent. But let let’s just at base level, talk about what you do, and why it’s important. And if I if my son or young man that had the kind of talent that Lamar Jackson, or any one of his ilk would have, why I need an agent. And why if you had a son, or a daughter, you’d say, I had Leigh Steinberg on. He’s like, I don’t represent myself. But I mean, so I just want to put this into perspective for an educational because everybody’s an expert on agents this week, except you’re really one of them. And I really want to hear what you do for young men, and how fragile they are. And this week and getting tender to how important this is to them, their families, their future. This is bullshit on a transaction line to anybody out on a tweet. This is real life. This is real Jerry Maguire, things that go on with these young men for you
Chad Wiestling 03:24
right now. Absolutely. 100%. So, yeah, I mean, us, you know, what do agents do? You know, we were, I can speak for myself, but also, you know, there’s a lot of good agents in this business. And there’s some bad ones, obviously, and you always hear about the, you know, the bad stuff, but there’s a lot of good ones as well. But, you know, we wear many hats now stir. It’s basically when people ask me, you know, Hey, is it really like Jerry Maguire? I say, yeah, it is minus the love story in my situation, but oh, it is it’s very competitive. And you basically I’m a full time, you know, I say this all the time, a full time babysitter, if that makes sense to the lay person. And that, you know, as I said, I wear many hats. And that’s anything from, you know, counselor to, you know, obviously, contract advisor. That’s our official term. I mean, we’re calling agents. But to the, you know, with the NFLPA, the Players Association, our title was contract advisor. So we are to advise these guys, you know, and some guys want to listen to some guys don’t. And we can only lead the horse to water and when they’re when they get to the water, they don’t want to drink and the easy thing for them to do is fire us and they go to someone else that will, you know, try to do the same thing. So it’s a very competitive industry, very competitive business, Nesta. And, you know, it’s anything from like I said, you know, you get them early on, you know, we recruit them in college, you know, coming out of college, we do our homework, we have our connections. I’ve been you know, which is crazy. I’ve been in this business for 20 Five years.
Nestor Aparicio 05:00
I know you have I mean, you know, I mean, we we’ve gotten old together back, literally, we’ve known each other forever and, and and agents are behind the scene and it’s nice to you Come on, and you text Adam Schefter and say my guys sign, whatever that is. But you try to lay low. I mean, even Rosenhaus. I mean, to some degree, right? You know, you’re not the star of the operation, and you’re so busy behind the scenes, handling the affairs, that he just, you know, you know, and as you get older you don’t, it’s just, it’s a hard thing to do. It’s a job and I’ve told you this to your face and a million, I wouldn’t have your job. You know what I mean? Like, God bless you, because I’ve tried to be in business with people like you and your football players. And I found that to be frighteningly impossible. I did a lot of radio shows you were players, it’s just it’s a really difficult thing that you do I have a lot of respect for agents. And even and I want everyone else to have more respect for one, because everybody’s in alignment, that Lamar should have one.
Chad Wiestling 06:00
Yeah, you know, it’s funny, like, you know, the US or we, as agents, a lot of times, we are behind the scenes, some obviously want to be more in the spotlight than others. I’m the type of guy that, you know, like, as you said, I’ll be at the local supermarkets or bars or whatever, you already know what I who I am or what I do it, because that’s why I like it. You know, so it’s a very, my approach is, it’s not about me, it’s about my players. So that’s my approach, that’s, you know, I tell them the first time I meet with them in their family, like, Hey, guys, you’re the boss is weird and crazy as that may sound, I’m telling a 2122 23 year old that, Hey, you’re the boss, I work for you. You know, so, you know, they kind of you know, can call the shots and you build that trust, you build a relationship. But you know, I’m my, my whole dynamic is I like to stay in the background, it’s not about me, I work for them and their family. And, and, you know, once again, wearing many hats, it’s, you know, can be from, you know, obviously contract advisor to, you know, father figure to brother to, you know, counselor to you know, you name it to travel, travel agent, you know, which that kind of drives me nuts sometimes. But, you know, it’s just anything that I’m asked to do, or I need to do to make these guys these young men’s football career easier for them. Yeah, that’s kind of, you know, that’s kind of what we do. So,
Nestor Aparicio 07:30
why did they pick you? I mean, seriously, I mean, you know, you have a star running back. You’re a guy from Baltimore kid from Alabama. Why do they, when they pick an agent, what’s the differentiator? Because, I mean, there’s got to be I’ve been to the Senior Bowl, I’ve been to these, but I mean, it’s just, there’s there are a lot of you and there are a lot of them. And they have a lot of choices.
Chad Wiestling 07:52
Yeah, they do. They do. And it’s, you know, comes down to, you know, building a relationship and earning and gaining that trust. That’s what I truly believe in. And I’ll tell everybody, you know, the first moment I meet them is that, hey, I’m not for everybody. And everybody’s not for me. So it’s, you know, it’s kind of by doing this for a long time going on 25 years. You know, I’ve had gone through some Riff Raff I’ve, I’ve represented some guys I wish I didn’t represent at the time we’re looking back at it. Well, your
Nestor Aparicio 08:26
phone rings in the middle of the night, and you’re like, Oh, my God, like, right.
Chad Wiestling 08:32
Lester, I’ve had some shit, man. I’ve had guys were, you know, guys that have
Nestor Aparicio 08:36
been doing what and? Why? Right. I mean,
Chad Wiestling 08:39
yeah, you know, you’re getting calls from you know, state police. You’re getting calls from your name. I had a player, you know, several years ago that was actually killed. Jerry Brown. I don’t know if you remember from the Cowboys. Remember the his teammate? crashed the car. Yeah. Building. Yeah. I mean, I was that was that was my guy, Jerry Brown was I got that I was in Baltimore. I wasn’t living here at the time. I you know, this is my home. But I’ve been, you know, several places. But I was in Baltimore. I remember. And I was staying downtown at the Sheraton, actually. And I got a call it probably three or four in the morning and picked it up. And they were like, Hey, this is Chad with us again. I was like, Well, this is the, you know, Dallas Police Department, you know, and, yeah, and as your client and you know, there’s your client, Jerry Brown’s like, Yeah, and so I’m thinking to get in trouble. I’m not going Oh, my goodness, we you know, he got in trouble was like, No, he was killed. So, there’s some things that you know, we’ve all like said, we’ve been in this business a long time, we’ve, we probably have seen it or been a part of a lot of stuff. So but you know, it’s why do they pick me or why they pick a specific agent, you know, I think it really comes down to like, just earning that trust, building that relationship with the player and the families. That’s why we recruit them, you know, well, you know, back is you know, whenever we can and start recruiting them in college. And, you know, like I said, Everybody’s different. There’s players out there that you know, want to flash, you know, they want to flash they want hey, what can you do for me, you know, how much money can you give me or how much you know how much you know, gifts and stuff and stuff get you know, get me off the field and we’re more worried about stuff off the field and what there are on the field that are some players I have a good history with, like just good, like hard nosed football players and you know, guys that love the game guys that are good enough to play on Sundays guys that, you know, do it the right way. And, you know, and I build that relationship and you know, every once in a while I will get a, you know, I you know, I’ve got to update a lot of players over the years. And, you know, every once in a while you get this is my second franchise player. Now, remember, I had Muhammad Wilkerson of the Jets. So who was a first round draft pick? And, you know, so, you know, one thing that I tell everybody during this whole process, you know, they’re like, oh, shoot, there’s a lot of agents and so on have like, it guys have done big deals, and I’ve done big deals. I’ve had guys drafted every round first Rounders to seven to undrafted free agents, but not everybody has done franchise tag deals, because there’s not a lot of so I’ve actually this is gonna be my second one. Will you
Nestor Aparicio 11:09
try to not get to that point too someday, right? Yeah.
Chad Wiestling 11:13
Yeah, you hope once again, you’re kind of at the, you know, the mercy of the tea rather, like, you know,
Nestor Aparicio 11:20
so the mercy of the Players Association, because they gave them the right to do this, right. Well, yeah.
Chad Wiestling 11:24
1%. And that’s what the teams use. That’s what they’ll tell you is like, it’s not us. We this is a tool that’s in the collective bargaining, bargaining agreement. CBA that we’re allowed to
Nestor Aparicio 11:34
use. It’s just business, right? I mean, Jeff weaseling is here he is Baltimorean, who is legit NFL, he has done this a long, long time. I don’t bug him much. Sometimes he brings his players by radio row went before they threw me out. So I wasn’t at the Super Bowl this year. And I’m sort of reaching out. And so under the Lamar thing, and just taking the franchise tag and the non exclusive. And what’s predictive, I mean, you were telling your kid in Vegas, they’re probably gonna framing, everybody sort of knew what and then you there’s not much you can do. In the case of Lamar without an agent, you’re like, the unprecedented and I’ve had this I’ve had that I’ve seen this. I don’t know anybody seen this former MVP prime of his career team seemingly not. And then the original sin of all of this, as you know better than anybody. It’s owners against players association, it’s suppressing salaries. It’s taking the top guy and making his top not so high. And the Deshaun Watson outlier, and I know you’ll hate that as an agent outlier wouldn’t be a friggin outlier. If you represent Lamar Jackson, I have a feeling right. So give me what you see to your eyes and what you’re willing to share with our audience, in regard to a guy out there without an agent trying to do this this week at the highest level, who doesn’t know what he’s doing hasn’t done what he’s done, kind of fell in with the union a little bit. But, but more than anything, and you’re a Baltimore guy, four years ago, before the plague when they’re killing everybody, and he’s the MVP, it was big trust, big trust, big trust. It was Mark Ingram big trust. It’s amazing. The kid doesn’t trust anyone, right? Like, and your first thing is, you have to trust me, I’m your agent. Well, I don’t trust anybody. Well, that’s a problem. And it’s like, I think that this is a trust issue. I don’t really trust her at the cost, either. And he probably shouldn’t, and you would tell him not to. So this is a wild thing to watch. And I guess if you’re ever going to teach one of those courses that Andrew brand teaches, this is a case course. Right as to what this is, we don’t know where this is going.
Chad Wiestling 13:35
Right. Right now. Absolutely. And I get asked this question a lot, and especially over this past year, and the past couple of weeks, obviously. And, you know, I when I represent a player Nestor, it’s an even I’m doing that now with, you know, with Josh Jacobs. So the Raiders, it’s, I always I do, you know, I have my agent hat, and then I’ll try to put on my GM hat, you know, try to understand why they’re doing what they’re doing. And it makes sense of it. So, you know, when people ask me about the Lamar situation, you know, I’m like, Hey, I don’t fault the guy. You know, as far as you know, the, you know, as you call it, the outlier, which teams are going to use, everyone’s gonna say, oh, that’s the outlier. And you know, it’s easy for them to say, oh, that’s just the Cleveland Browns. It’s the Cleveland Browns. They had to do that. It’s the Cleveland Browns. And they used to have you remember they used to say about the Raiders back in the day with Al Davis? Oh, it’s the Oakland Raiders. It’s Al Davis, he’s you know, that’s the outlier. He overpaid for players. Well, you had to for the most part because they the organization wasn’t good and and if you ever been to the Coliseum and and Oakland players weren’t willing to go out there and play because it was so old and decrepit. So you know, so that, you know, they’re going to use the Cleveland the outlier thing, but it is what it is, you know, it is what it is to Shawn jack or Deshaun. Watson got a fully guaranteed contract. It’s what players have been fighting for. For years. The Union strike I’ve been fighting for, you know, to some extent, but
Nestor Aparicio 15:03
you know, you want that as an agent, right? Oh, yeah, no, absolutely. And
Chad Wiestling 15:07
I’m a former player to Nestor. I mean, I, you know, I remember I played University of Maryland and stuff. So, you know, and I’m, it’s funny, I was in this morning up at 7:30am getting an MRI, because I need a shoulder replacement, you know, so it’s, you know, I’m getting surgeries now to fix my surgeries of 30 some years ago. But it’s a rough game. My point is, it’s a rough game. It’s, you know, the old argument is, well, basketball is guaranteed baseball is guaranteed, you know, these other these other sport professional sport leagues? And why isn’t football? Well, you know, why isn’t it is because, you know, the owners, as you said, stick together. And when it comes down to negotiate the, you know, a new CBA or an extension, you know, the union will will try to push for it will try to fight for the players, because every player wants a fully guaranteed contract, but, you know, they’re not going to get anywhere. They’re not going to get anywhere with it. And, you know, the players settle the player Association settle because they don’t want to, you know, lose checks. They don’t want to not play. And eventually, like I said, it’s not notes nobody has ever given, you know, anyone of that magnitude deal. $230 million, fully guaranteed. Do you know Kirk Cousins got one? You know, what was that? 84 million, I think a three year deal. 84 85 million, which was really the first one that was fully guaranteed for a quarterback. But it wasn’t it wasn’t, you know, 230 million that the Browns did
Nestor Aparicio 16:30
we franchised out for two years to in order to do that, too? Oh, yeah,
Chad Wiestling 16:33
he played Yeah, he played the franchise game. Like he was, you know, he was really awesome. Also, maybe one of the first guys to do that. Where he, you know, he, he did it, right. I mean, he’s stood steadfast and got played the franchise tag game, and it worked in his favor. So you know, Kirk Cousins, who, you know, once again, good quarterback Master, I’m gonna, you know, I won’t talk crap about anybody. But, you know, he’s not I don’t think he’s a superstar by any means. And he’s made a lot of money, he’s made a lot of money, doing, you know, taking the approach that he did play in the franchise tag game, and then getting a fully guaranteed contract, you know, of 84,000,003 years with with the Minnesota Vikings. So, you know, like I said, with Lamar, you know, that’s, I think that’s where he’s kind of headed, whereas they all just play the franchise tag game, you know, 20
Nestor Aparicio 17:25
million last year already. Right? Right. Yeah, probably gonna cost him 10 to 15.
Chad Wiestling 17:30
Now, that was his fifth year option. So, you know, this is, you know, so this is, you know, the, the nonexclusive, which a lot of people were surprised that I, even myself, I thought for sure, the Ravens were going to do the exclusive. Because, you know, the, you know, it’s like all a team has to do was come in, give them a great deal and follow the guarantee. And if they want it, you know, that’s what he wants someone, you know, someone can come pull the guarantee, and they just give up to first round draft picks for him to the Ravens. So, you know, I asked you, you know, if you have, you know, with all these subpar, quarterbacks out there, and you have a dynamic player like Lamar Jackson, and, you know, an MVP, a former MVP, could be an MVP, any at any time? And is he worth, you know, two first round draft picks? Absolutely. I’ll answer that for you. Absolutely. So, but so
Nestor Aparicio 18:19
make nice with the ravens and your experience with these young men, because it certainly has felt like, and I have some evidence on my side that the team was unhappy with him this time last year when he’s told that of OTAs. I know that to be true then. And then I see all of the mechanisms of all everything that happened after the injury, and the media, and he’s going to come back and they tell NFL Network, he’s coming back, you as an agent would have stopped, stepped in there and said, Whoa, this is level two now. But you know, he he didn’t have I shuddered for him, when I saw what the team was doing to him to force him back onto the field when he’s making a business decision. And then he doesn’t show up on the sidelines in Cincinnati. I, if you were his age, and again, I don’t look good for anybody. None of this is look good for anybody. And now he’s been given the lesser tag, like, it feels like an invite to get rid of the kid and take a couple of pics because they didn’t want to marry him.
Chad Wiestling 19:15
Yeah, no, it’s the way it looks. It’s basically there. You know, I noticed and I know, Coach Harbaugh. I worked with him in Philadelphia a long time ago briefly and so you know, I got a great relationship with with Coach Herbes. And and you know, I truly believe you know, he’s that he you know, he loves you know, Lamar and once in there and, and who wouldn’t? But, you know, where the agent comes in? Is it just kind of what you were referring to is all that you know, all you know, the media jumps all you know, which is crazy. It’s obviously the world of football and sports and everything’s different now than it was a long time ago. So social media can control your message you really, exactly that’s what you like I said what I would do or what an agent would do is like, Hey, we’re gonna take the heat for, like, you know, instead of the, you know, the player and everybody’s reading the tweets, and, you know, the posts, and everyone’s making assumptions or why he didn’t show up, or, or why this why that. And, you know, an agent is, you know, that’s part of my job a lot of his damage control or getting out in front of it. And, you know, I can I can release a statement to the, to the media or to the team, I can talk to the team, like, hey, you know, hope everything’s cool. He’ll be there, you know, Hey, first of all, you know, OTAs, you don’t have to be there. It’s not mandatory. Every team, you know, every team freaks out, like, they’re pissed off, because the team player doesn’t show up. They don’t have to be there. That’s in the CBA. Like, so remember, the teams will use everything in the CBA to their advantage. But it also on the other side, when a player does he says Blackhat Oh, yeah. Oh, my God, how can you miss OTAs? We don’t have to be there. You know, he doesn’t he doesn’t. That’s not that’s not required. You know, they you know, that’s, that’s like with Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers last couple years, just like almost Yelena. Oh, you know, he can because he knows the offense he knows. But there
Nestor Aparicio 21:06
is something that you would say to one of these young men like, look, you’re kicking him in knots, if you don’t show up at OTA, and then you want me to go back and get you under a million dollars in the fall off the coach, you’re pissing off teammates, you know, they’re out there work and you’re on Twitter being a jackwagon while they’re working? And like, Hey, dude, like, you know, cut that out? Yeah, don’t do that. They’ll listen to you.
Chad Wiestling 21:30
Yeah. And it’s an expectation as your quarterback in your leader, obviously, to be there. To you know, to be the leader, be the guy in the locker room be the guy in the team house, you know, so I get all that, like,
Nestor Aparicio 21:42
those weeks we pay the most we expect the most Imagine that?
Chad Wiestling 21:46
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So, you know, I think it’s, it has to be tough for, you know, for the Ravens I’m putting on my GM hat has to be tough for them to, you know, like, even during the season, you’re not getting much discussions going on, you know, when your quarterbacks out practicing, you know, and he’s playing from, you know, he’s got practice and, you know, every day from 7am, to 7pm, like when you’re gonna have a chance to sit down and talk to him, when you’re gonna have a chance to sit down and have these these discussions with him about, you know, if
Nestor Aparicio 22:16
you’re worried about beating the team in front of you, once that thing starts. I mean, we all know that they lifecycle and how hard it
Chad Wiestling 22:23
is. Right? Right. Yeah. So you know, like I said, that’s where an agent, like, you know, an agent will, you know, be talking to the salary cap guy, or the GM, well, you know, hardball and the coaching staff are preparing for, you know, on the field for the team, the next opponent, and your quarterback, your players are out there playing, preparing for the next opponent. So that’s, you know, that’s where, like I said, the agent comes in, where, you know, once again, hopefully gives you good advice of what to do what not to do. You know, and let let let me let the agent, do the, you know, kind of negotiate with the team, talk to the teams, see where that and I’ll communicate with the players, you know, like, I never hide anything from players, I’m totally transparent. But it’s, you know, you don’t want to be a player. And it’s, you know, it’s human nature. Nesta, where players will, you know, it’s easy to say, Oh, I’m not worried about I’m just worried about the next game. But, you know, you know, you got to be thinking, if you’re up for a big deal, or you’re up for it as a free agent, or you’re in a contract year, you know, you gotta get you going out in there, and you’re playing, you’re given everything you get, but you know, it’s, heaven forbid you do you get hurt, you know, heaven forbid, something happens. And then all of a sudden, what you’ve been working for dreaming about your whole life, you know, can can, you know, spiral out of control just because of an injury. So, you know, it’s kind of, you know, in what my point with that is, you know, you try to, you know, the players what I’m saying like, Oh, I’m not worried about I’m just worried about my next opponent. I’m just worried. I’m just gonna take care of business on the field. Well, yes. But, you know, I found over the years, it’s still human nature, and then the players are calling me that. Hey, have you talked to him? Hey, have you talked to him? We know what’s going on. You know, you know, it’s like, okay, it’s I know that you’re playing and taking care of business on the field. You should but you still want human nature. You want to know what’s going on? Are you making a progress is there what are they saying? You know, this that
Nestor Aparicio 24:08
whatever a family is asking me? Yeah, oh, yeah, there’s
Chad Wiestling 24:11
Yeah, trust me. There’s a lot, a lot, a lot of family in this business, that are asking questions. So 100%
Nestor Aparicio 24:19
Well, chat, we sleeps here. He represents National Football League players. He’s like a real agent. He lives here in Baltimore. He’s been my friend for a long, long time. So I would just say this to you. You’ve represented well over 100 clients in the National Football League, some I’m smarter than others, some of them you know, needed help in a lot of different ways. We put all that out taking the mean or the average or even the smartest kid in the in the Weasley school and say, if that guy represented himself and he were the best quarterback in the sport and was out on his own, how in the hell would this work? Where Lamar is going at four o’clock on a Wednesday like, does he pick up the phone and call the switchboard and ask for Mr. Big How does Mr. Big get to him? This isn’t a negotiation between him and the General Manager. This is a negotiation between him and an owner. So like, without a you and a team of you, because I mean, this might give you the opportunity to kiss everybody’s ass in your circle, because you have assistants, lawyers, people, you have a team of people. It’s not just Chad and Josh, Jake. It’s a team, like, you know, a guy that I don’t know how this even happens, Chad, and I’m wondering is a guy that spent your whole life doing this, that somebody will say, Now cut out the middleman, I’ll just talk to Steve Ross myself, you know, like, the All of this doesn’t make sense to a media guy. I can’t imagine makes sense to people in your industry.
Chad Wiestling 25:38
Yeah, I was it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Like I said, just to take some lotto, or, you know, shoot all the heat, not just a little bit all the heat off of him. You know, where he can just, you know, concentrate on playing football. It Yeah, just as an A player of that magnitude. It just doesn’t make kids it makes you kind of, you know, it’s a head scratcher. Like, hey, it could be so much better for you and easier for you
Nestor Aparicio 26:03
and more profitable and more profitable. Exactly. hire you. And the ravens, like, literally, you would have had a deal for me to have more money in the bank. He’d be sleeping well, he’d be on the beach, get married, do whatever he wanted to do make babies having fun shoe deals, like he isn’t in any of that stuff. I mean, I think what Robert Griffin and would am with Baker Mayfield and these guys that never, quite frankly, accomplish anything and still have loads of money from their site, or whatever it is. And they put money in the bank that Lamar has. He’s already 20 million to the bad right now for having played last year. Right? Like I just it, it’s a sad story to me. But to your point, Dan Snyder gets to $240 million on Friday. He’s he winds up really having gained this if he wins right
Chad Wiestling 26:58
now. Yeah. And it really comes down. You know, as I started to talk about, you know, I get asked this question a lot, especially in the last, you know, a few months and several weeks. It’s, you know, you’re you’re pressing so much on the fully guaranteed deal, which I understand what he’s doing, like I understand and trust me is you just mentioned early the union’s helping now, you know, like he’s not out here by himself. I’m gonna tell you like the Players Association or as you know, Dean Murray Smith, Sue in the league for collusion. You know, all these teams are they, you know, think are which they are they collude every year. You know, whether they’re talking to each other saying, you know, don’t I don’t have proof of this, but you know, don’t don’t guarantee these deals like don’t Oh, yeah, I
Nestor Aparicio 27:41
mean, I saw a shoddy walk around the pool last year and was like fuming that, that he wasn’t going to do it. I’m not going to be the guy. I’m not gonna be the guy. I don’t care who it is. It could be Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth and Vince Lombardi. I’m not doing it. Yeah, that’s it. Yeah.
Chad Wiestling 27:55
Yeah. Because once you do it for one person, you know, everyone’s got like, a domino effect. So, you know, if Mr. Bashara he does it for one, one player, then the next superstar is going to do it and the next superstar is going to do it. And that’s it’s going to happen everywhere. So
Nestor Aparicio 28:09
otherwise, you sports for 50 years. That’s the way it works. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. 30 agents, it’s not your fault. It’s not our fault on Lamar, because we’ll have anything to do with.
Chad Wiestling 28:21
Like I said, I understand what he’s trying to do. And he has every right to do that. I’m for you. I’m with him on that. I mean, like I said, he is, you know, we all know the story of Deshaun Watson, who’s you know, is a good player, but he’s not Lamar Jackson is not a former MVP. Lamar is not getting in any trouble. You know, it’s, you know, it makes all the sense in the world. You know, where where it and I just have read reports, Nesta, you how much money the you know, the the Ravens have offered and fully guaranteed being up like whatever, like 130 or, or even more,
Nestor Aparicio 28:53
and Laura is laughing about it on Twitter and tweeting. Yeah.
Chad Wiestling 28:58
So So where it comes, you know, once again, we’re, you know, were putting my, my other hat on, but geomet is, you know, it’s kind of like, Hey, we’re offering him a lot of money now. Life changing, I mean, $20 million, when he just made slight change. I mean, what soon as you get drafted higher, it’s life changing. But you know, when they’re offered that type of money, you know, what is the what is the threshold or you know, what is going to make you you know, really sit down and consider it and think about it and that you know, and I deal with that with teams all the time with players it’s like, you know, hey, you know, if you you know, I will always talk to my players I will I will be transparent I will tell them every offer every every point of our negotiation, whether they like it whether they want to hear it or not, and a lot of times they don’t they get pissed off and they’re like, don’t kill the messenger. Don’t get pissed off at me. I’m telling you, you know, this is what they’ve offered, or whatever, but at some point, you’re hoping the team can give you something or you know, between negotiations that you gotta give me something to to leave least we can think about, you know, at least we can sit down and have a conversation about it, you know, if you’re just trying to get, you know, you know, like steal a lot of money, but if you’re trying to nickel and dime us, you know, it’s not even worth conversation. We’re not even saying ballpark, you know, give us something that we got, you know, and once again is 130 million guaranteed. Is that something to sit down have a conversation over? I would think so. You’ve never
Nestor Aparicio 30:22
had one of those conversations you’d love to have loved to have. Oh, yeah, that’d be great. And you take 1% I bet we Slinkys here Wildomar calls you or somebody like you at some point and and this from a structural standpoint for everybody in the industry, not just mediate schlubs or former media schlubs like me are guys like you, this is really unchartered. This is gonna be an interesting couple of weeks for Lamar and for the organization, right? Yeah,
Chad Wiestling 30:52
no, absolutely. And like I said, the fact it’s already been been been, you know, out in the media, and, you know, as far as soon as the Ravens put the tag the nonexclusive tag on him, wasn’t it funny how right away instantly teams were, oh, we’re out. We’re not interested. We’re not interested, you know, like, like, how can you not be interested? If you if your good team out there needs a quarterback like it makes you think like, how could you not be interested in Lamar, Lamar Jackson? Like, that’s, you know, that’s where people were assuming that there’s collusion you know, they want it out there right away that we’re not in the market. And I think you know, like I said the, the ravens are taking a chance and I think they, you know, they they did their homework, obviously, whether it’s collusion or not, they did their homework to know that they you know, it’s not we’re betting that no one’s going to offer him you know, a fully guaranteed deal or a deal that we can’t match. And you know, we’re instead of paying him 45 million, you know, which would have been the exclusive tag number and we only got to pay him 32.5 which is the non exclusive quarterback number. And then you got to remember also, you know that number it’s a one year guarantee deal so that number hits your cap right away. So you know, 45 million to hit your cap that’s a lot of money to be carrying on your cap for one player for one year. Now when you do long term deals, they you know, they can prorate the signing bonus and stuff but that’s how they that’s why you see players always restructured or teams that are always restructuring their players because they got to create cap space
Nestor Aparicio 32:27
well that’s another issue with Lamar and you’ve just taken us down into a major agent rabbit hole which is oh we’re gonna sign this kid and then we need to restructure Deshaun Watson restructure three days ago Yeah, who do we call Oh, we call them ours mother we call them our and bring him in and say give money back oh my god, like, you know, right I mean, right. So they’re not
Chad Wiestling 32:47
technically given money back what they’re doing is they’re just pushing the money down down the road. So if the money for example if the money is let’s say for you know, for basic math fees guarantee $20 million for this year and that’s hitting the cap, well, hey, we’ll give you you know, we’ll turn that 15 million into a you know, pay you now as a signing bonus or roster bonus. Okay, so now we can say there’s four years or 43 years left on the deal. Well, we can we can prorate 5 million over each of the next three years so now is the cap their cap numbers come down so instead of $20 million now it’s down to you know, like five you know, they can kind of get it down to you know with with whatever’s base salaries let’s say 6 million
Nestor Aparicio 33:36
but it takes cooperation and an agent to do that. Oh yeah, yeah, it takes like yeah, so it takes some your phone rings when they want to do that.
Chad Wiestling 33:43
Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So each other basically just moving the money down the road but they’re given the guy the player instant cash right now and formable bonus so they can prorate it so that’s when you see the guys restructure and you know for you know, that’s why they’re doing a discrete cap space for the so the teams can go out and sign on the players.
Nestor Aparicio 34:01
Your wealth of information I owe your crabcake in an adult beverage at some point here. I’ll even give you a Maryland lottery scratch off ticket we get together so point up in Highland town or Canton or
Chad Wiestling 34:12
can you guarantee I’m gonna win some? You know, I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 34:15
the Ravens can’t guarantee their MVP money. How am I gonna guarantee you a winning lottery ticket?
Chad Wiestling 34:19
Great point. Great
Nestor Aparicio 34:20
job. Whistling is here. He is a local super agent to the stars and as a franchise player with the Las Vegas raiders who I hope it’s doing well. And hey, you know, sit back relax a little bit your guy’s franchise. You get to watch all this other madness happening out there?
Chad Wiestling 34:35
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. It’s kind of what I’ve been doing. Well, I would
Nestor Aparicio 34:39
say congratulations, because you introduced me to that young man at the Super Bowl four or five years ago. I’d seen him play at Alabama National Championships and Nick Saban old stuff, and you know, data and franchise is a hell of a thing, right? I mean, it’s really speaks to what kind of player he’s been. Oh, yeah.
Chad Wiestling 34:54
100%. You know, that’s like I said the franchise tag is it’s a tool that the teams can Use and you know either love it or you hate it whoever you know you know players they don’t want to be tagged it’s but you know it’s also if you can look at it so it’s almost like a an honor like hey shoot you know only the teams can only do it one one player one you know one player per team and not a lot of guys get franchise now a lot of teams like always use their tag so
Nestor Aparicio 35:20
you are up for a raise with a franchise you I mean
Chad Wiestling 35:23
it doesn’t mean it doesn’t mean the point is it just gives you more time so that’s why as you said you know, I don’t necessarily my feet kicked up but I could because the deadline for even with Lamar the deadline is July 17th I think I mentioned that earlier on July 17. So, it gives the the you know the team the luxury of you know signing other players so like right now when free agency will start tomorrow but of course the deals are rolling in the past two days and on you know on the 17th you know that’s the deadline you know so it gives hopes this gives us more time the dust settles the players are either cut or signed the draft as you know you know is taking place you know maybe there’ll be so few more if they need money for a few more restructures but then you know gives us time to continue to talk and can continue to do a long term deal for that player. Now a lot of times it does get done at the deadline you know your July ish or whatever but there are some good players and it does you know like Jesse Bates from the Bengals last year you know he didn’t get a deal done and played on his one year you know played on his tag number with the Bengals and he just signed a big deal with I think with the Falcons uh you know just are agreed to do so not official yet but you know agreed to a deal with the Falcons allegedly. Exactly, exactly. So you know, like I said Do you know what you hope one that is? You know, the player has and once again even I’m sure Lamar does I’m sure Lamar does I hope he has a disability insurance policy. I’m sure he does. But you know, these are the things like you know that an agent and their team you know, make sure we are in place because the last thing you wanted to be doing is playing that year on a franchise tag and go out and something catastrophic happened and you know, you just missed a lot you know, you just lost you know, ability to make a lot more money.
Nestor Aparicio 37:12
We wondered out loud about Lloyd’s of London last year and Lamar Jackson a plane with 23 $23 million. Chad I know your time short man I appreciate you tampering with us here at Baltimore positive I know you only come on on special occasions. We have big stories here but I do hope we get a crab cake and talk more about the industry and I think this whole situation has shed a light on what are these agents do anyway whatever. So over crab cake and a beer when things are a little more quiet. Maybe we’ll get together in summer and do that. All right. It would love to I’d love to absolutely appreciate shad Weasley joining us here if you see him a cat under upper Fells Point. Yep, that’s him. He’s Josh Jacobs guy and tried this week to at least educate folks around here as to what’s going on and what these real Jerry Maguire types do. I am Nestor we are wn st am 1570, Towson Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive
