Earlier this week, NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said that the union is investigating allegations of a contract agent using a runner who represented himself to be an employee of the NFLPA.
Michael C. Wright of ESPNChicago.com reports that the targets of the investigation are agent Ian Greengross and recruiter Kenny Rogers. Both men told Wright that they have been contacted by union officials. (Greengross admitted that he has paid Rogers for various services, but Greengross seemed to deny that he has used Rogers as a runner.)
And while the current controversies involving agents have focused on payments made to players who have not yet finished their college careers, the investigation involving Greengross and Rogers arose from an apparent effort to pilfer a veteran player from his current agent, another widespread violation of the NFLPA rules that the union rarely if ever effectively investigates or enforces.
Wright reports that Greengross and Rogers landed on the radar screen after Bears safety Danieal Manning, who was unhappy with his restricted free agency tender of $1.176 million, received a voice message from Rogers. Rogers allegedly claimed that he works for the NFLPA, that he had just left a meeting with G.M. Jerry Angelo, and that he had “important information” regarding Manning’s contract.
The investigation expanded to include an examination of whether Rogers misrepresented himself to other veteran and incoming rookie players, including Bears receiver Brandon LaFell, Eagles cornerback Trevard Lindley, and Texans kick returner Trindon Holliday.
Rogers claims that he told the men that he is a member “of the NFLPA retired players,” not the NFLPA. Unfortunately for Rogers, no such organization exists.
Greengross, who ultimately was hired by Lindley and Holliday, looks to be distancing himself from Rogers. “If I find out he crossed the line . . . if he was actually telling
people that he worked for the NFLPA, I’m not gonna stand for that,” Greengross told Wright. “I’ve been clean for 15 years. If this guy did something I wasn’t in control of, that’s gonna come down on me and I’m gonna be responsible.”
Moving forward, the question is whether this case represents an opportunity that fell into the union’s lap, or whether it marks a change in the union’s approach to agent misconduct. Plenty of violations occur, in large part because the union either doesn’t aggressively enforce the rules, or because agents favored by the NFLPA routinely escape scrutiny. For the union to have any credibility when it comes to regulating contract agents, every contract agent who breaks the rules needs to be held responsible for his or her actions.
