(Editor’s Note: What follows is an excerpt from My Brother’s Keeper: Above & Beyond ‘The Dotted Line’ With the NFL’s Most Ethical Agent by Eugene Lee. Lee is Of Counsel to the Sports and Entertainment practice group of Garvey Schubert Barer and a widely recognized and respected industry expert on NFL player contracts, salary cap, the collective bargaining agreement and athlete branding)
Once a team has made its decision and drafted my client, the real fun begins. When I meet with a prospective client and his family, I let them know that contract negotiation is my Super Bowl. It is the Lombardi Trophy for which I strive, prepare, sacrifice and toil for hours upon end. It is the perfect convergence of my educational background, legal training and experience and dynamic communication skills to achieve two very important goals for my clients: (1) maximize guaranteed money; and (2) negotiate precise contractual language to protect that guaranteed money over the entire contract term.
Several years ago, I represented arguably the #1 fullback in the draft, Deon Anderson, out of the University of Connecticut. Deon was drafted in the 6th Round by the Dallas Cowboys (more on that to come) and as training camp approached that July, I began contract negotiations with Todd Williams of the Dallas Cowboys. I enjoyed negotiating with Todd. He was a sharp, yet laid back, guy who definitely stayed true to his country roots (I couldn’t help, but smile every time I heard Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” on his cell). Negotiations went along relatively smoothly and we finally came to an agreement on Deon’s signing bonus a few days before training camp was about to begin. When Todd sent over the paperwork to finalize the contract, my first move was to review the signing bonus default addendum. A signing bonus default addendum is included as part of every NFL team’s standard player contract. It grants an NFL team the right to demand repayment of all, or a portion of, a player’s signing bonus for conduct detrimental to the team (which could include felony convictions, multiple drug offenses and a voluntary refusal or failure to practice or play). Signing bonus default addenda began popping up across the NFL in the late 1990s as signing bonuses began to escalate and risky off-the-field behavior by players such as Rae Carruth (convicted for conspiracy to commit murder) and Bam Morris (drug trafficking) prompted teams to search for some type of mechanism to protect their long-term investments.
As I reviewed the Cowboys signing bonus default language, one particular phrase jumped out at me. The questionable language required Deon to repay a portion of his signing bonus (based on a four-year default repayment schedule) for “incarceration or conviction of a felony offense”. I took a long, hard look at that language and it finally dawned on me. Under the U.S. judicial system, there is a presumption of innocence in any criminal case. You are deemed innocent until proven guilty — until your guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I then thought about high-profile sports figures — including future Hall of Famers Ray Lewis and Kobe Bryant – who were incarcerated for felony offenses and later exonerated and found not guilty in a court of law. Under this exact language, if the same circumstances were to hold true for my client, the Cowboys would technically be within their rights to go after Deon’s signing bonus. Now, 99% of the time, this addendum would not even be applicable to the types of clients I represent, however, my job was (and is) to protect my player’s guaranteed money over the short and long-term under any and all possible circumstances and scenarios. So, I called Todd and told him that I would need the word “incarceration” to be stricken in order for us to sign.
Todd balked. “Eugene, Tony Romo has this language in his contract, T.O. has this language in his!” I countered, “Todd, with all due respect, I am not representing Tony Romo or Terrell Owens. I am representing Deon Anderson and until I am 100% comfortable with this default language and the security of my client’s signing bonus, I am advising my client not to sign.”
A couple days passed and training camp drew even closer. Training camp is a team’s built-in bargaining lever, as they know athletes grow more paranoid by the day as training camp — and real competition — nears. They don’t want to miss one rep that could potentially go to another player competing for their spot. Finally, Todd called. It turns out, Todd had done some research and discovered that from the time Jerry Jones had bought the Dallas Cowboys in 1990, the Cowboys had never gone after a single player’s signing bonus under their default addendum. This was even more compelling when taken in the context of Duane Goodrich’s felony conviction for vehicular homicide in 2001. Goodrich had been a defensive back for the Cowboys at the time of the crime. Even then, the Cowboys had not gone after his signing bonus. This unspoken organizational doctrine was extremely important because it established course of dealing. Course of dealing is a pattern of consistent behavior over a long period of time which precludes an individual or entity from acting in a totally inconsistent manner when there has been reliance on such long-time behavior. Under this legal theory, the Cowboys would’ve had a difficult time asserting their right to repayment of Deon’s signing bonus if he were ever incarcerated. Fully satisfied that my client’s signing bonus would be secured irrespective of the default language, I advised Deon to sign. Deon would go on to a four-year NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins.
This book by Eugene Lee (http://eugenetlee.com/) can be purchased at the following links:
Amazon: http://amzn.com/1944109005
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/my-brothers-keeper-above-beyond/id1039445584?mt=11
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-brothers-keeper-eugene-lee/1122651317?ean=9781944109004
