NFL Player Agent Joe Panos Leaves Firm Lock, Metz & Malinovic

Agent Joe Panos, who helped to recruit five first-round NFL Draft picks in the last two years for longtime NFL player rep firm Lock, Metz & Malinovic, has left the firm under amicable terms, Panos and Eric Metz said yesterday. Panos is being courted by a number of top NFL player agencies, sources said, after industry website Inside the League first broke the news of the split Friday. “It was a very amicable split,” Panos said in a telephone interview yesterday. “I have a lot of respect for Eric, Ethan and Vance.”

Metz said in an email, “Joe is a longtime friend that I'm proud to have trained in this business. LMM will proudly continue its 28 year history of representing players as we did for 25 years prior to Joe being associated with our firm.” Panos and LMM have agreed to continue to share the representation of Patriots DE Chandler Jones, Bengals G Kevin Zeitler and Packers DE Nick Perry, who were drafted in the first round this year, as well as Cowboys OT Tyron Smith and Eagles G Danny Watkins, Panos and Metz said.