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Labor and Agents

With additions, Relativity’s theory is working

Firm’s new agent lineup assembles strong NFL class

Editor’s note: This story has been updated from the print edition.

When Relativity Sports CEO Happy Walters put together the practices of rival NFL agents Doug Hendrickson and C.J. LaBoy with the agency’s football practice headed by Eugene Parker, he thought the merger would work, but not this fast.

“Everyone jelled more quickly than I thought,” Walters said last week. “I thought it would take more time for everyone to really jell, trust each other, work together and not be territorial. They are all really good guys and it worked out well.”

Leonard Williams of USC is considered a potential No. 1 pick.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Although some top college football players were still signing with agents last week, the buzz in the industry was that Relativity Sports may have the best NFL draft class of any agency. Relativity agents had signed 15 players (see chart), which included several projected to go in the top two rounds and a potential No. 1 overall pick, USC defensive lineman Leonard Williams. If Relativity were to represent the most first-rounders of any agency, it would break the lock that CAA Sports has had on that distinction since 2007.

Relativity’s class is the result of a combined effort by Parker; the agents he has overseen as CEO of Relativity Football, including Tory Dandy and Roosevelt Barnes; and his former competitors. Hendrickson and LaBoy joined Relativity Sports from Octagon in February.

Other projected high picks in the class include linebacker and safety Shaq Thompson and cornerback Marcus Peters, both from the University of Washington, as well as West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White and Florida State defensive tackle Eddie Goldman.

“That’s an incredible class, no question,” said Rob Rang, CBS Sports senior NFL draft analyst. Rang had five players — Goldman, Peters, Thompson, White and Williams — ranked as first-rounders in his mock draft last week. Rang projects Williams as the No. 1 pick overall, saying he thinks he is a safer pick for an NFL club than the two quarterbacks also seen as the possible No. 1 pick, Oregon’s Marcus Mariota and Florida State’s Jameis Winston.

Four other players that Relativity signed — USC wide receiver Nelson Agholor, TCU linebacker Paul Dawson, Florida State cornerback Ronald Darby and UCLA linebacker Eric Kendricks — are solid second-round players, Rang said. “I would be surprised, but not shocked, if they go in the first round,” he said.

Walters wouldn’t make projections on how many clients would be selected in the first round or whether Relativity has the best class of any agency.

“I don’t know how good this class is because I don’t know what other people have done,” Walters said. “And, you know how the draft is, some people rise and some people don’t. … They are not first-rounders until they are drafted.”

In addition to being CEO of Relativity Sports, Walters is co-president of its parent company, film and television studio Relativity Media LLC. Relativity Media launched Relativity Sports in July 2012 by acquiring Parker’s firm, Maximum Sports, as well as the former SFX Baseball and the NBA practice owned by agent Dan Fegan.

The firm had three first-rounders in the 2014 NFL draft and one in 2013.

Walters is also a certified NBA and NFL agent, and he and Parker are co-representing Williams. “I think as the best player in the draft, yes, I think he is the No. 1 pick,” Walters said, but he added that he understands the premium that some clubs put on the quarterback position.

Hendrickson said all the agents worked together on research as well as planning which agents would recruit which players. “We didn’t recruit 150 players,” Hendrickson said. “We recruited a limited number of players, but the way we approached it, our hit rate was very high.”

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