The NFLPA's Board of Reps in March "unanimously passed a resolution to form a committee to re-examine agent fees, educate incoming rookies on options and look into creating an in-house resource to negotiate contracts and/or advise players on doing their own deals," according to Tom Pelissero of USA TODAY. Giants RB and player rep Rashad Jennings said that the committee now has "conducted three calls." It has "not yet turned over recommendations, but the union is mobilizing to assist" Seahawks OT Russell Okung, who on Monday in a first-person essay on The Players' Tribune "revealed his decision" to go sans-agent on his next deal. Bengals OT and NFLPA President Eric Winston said that the union as of yesterday morning had "supplied Okung with the top 10 offensive tackle contracts and was prepared to provide further analysis and legal advice on contract language as needed before and after he's scheduled to hit the free agent market" in March. Winston said, "If you're going to hire a lawyer to look over language just to make sure it's right, we can do that as a union. I just think we need to do a better job of letting guys know that we have that (available)." Meanwhile, Jennings emphasized that the focus is "on showing players ways they can take ownership over their careers and finances, not eliminating agents from the business." Jennings: "They try to make the negotiation seem so difficult that they won't explain the simplicity of what's taking place. Because if you know what he or she knows, then what's their value?" Pelissero notes one of the "first possibilities Jennings raised with the committee was changing the maximum agent fee to 3% of net income after taxes" (USA TODAY, 7/22).
