Reps intact: Draft offers few surprises on the agent side

Bus Cook again represented the No. 1 overall pick, when the Cleveland Browns selected defensive end Myles Garrett. It is the third time that Cook, owner of BC Sports, has represented the first pick in the draft in the last six years. He did it with defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, drafted by the Houston Texans in 2014, and quarterback Cam Newton, taken by the Carolina Panthers in 2011.

Agencies with a history of representing multiple first-rounders were able to get their clients drafted on the first night again. In fact, fewer agencies represented more players. This year there were 13 agencies representing Round 1 players, compared with 19 last year.

Four agencies — CAA Sports, Lagardère Sports, Athletes First and Rep 1 Sports — combined to represent 20 of the 32 players selected by clubs in the first round (see chart below). Lagardère and Athletes First each had four first-round selections and Rep 1 Sports had three.

Myles Garrett was the third top pick for agent Bus Cook in six years. Photo by: GETTY IMAGES

> CAA SPORTS LEADS FIRST ROUND: CAA Sports represented more first-round players than any other agency, with nine clients selected. Since 2007, CAA Sports has had more players drafted in the first round than any other agency every year but one. Nine first-round draft picks repeats the record, also set by CAA Sports, in 2009.

CAA represented three players picked in the top 10 — defensive end Solomon Thomas at No. 3, wide receiver Corey Davis at No. 5 and wide receiver Mike Williams at No. 7.

CAA also represented cornerback Marshon Lattimore (No. 11), linebacker Haason Reddick (No. 13), tight end O.J. Howard (No. 19), tight end Evan Engram (No. 23), safety Jabrill Peppers (No. 25) and linebacker T.J. Watt (No. 30).

CAA Football agents Todd France, Tom Condon, Jimmy Sexton, Tom Condon Jr., R.J. Gonser, Ben Renzin, Patrick Collins, Tory Dandy and Jim Denton represent the players.

> SEGAL HAS MULTIPLE PICKS AGAIN: Joel Segal, Lagardère Sports president of team sports, continued his streak of representing multiple players in the first round for the 12th year in a row.

Lagardère represented four players taken in the first round, including Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey, taken at No. 8.

“A lot of clubs were looking for playmakers,” Segal said. “A lot of clubs were looking to ignite their offense, and that helped some of the guys move up the board.”

It’s the second year in a row that Lagardère Sports ranked second for the number of first-round picks. Lagardère also represented cornerback Marlon Humphrey (No. 16), linebacker Jarrad Davis (No. 21) and defensive end Taco Charlton (No. 28).

Segal represents the players with his longtime partners, NFL agents Chafie Fields and Greg Barnett.

> REP 1 HAS FIRST QUARTERBACK AGAIN: Independent firm Rep 1 Sports, which is owned by cousins Ryan Tollner and Bruce Tollner, have again represented the top quarterback in the draft. Their client Mitchell Trubisky was the second selection overall.

Trubisky kept Rep 1’s QB streak alive. Photo by: GETTY IMAGES

In the past four NFL drafts, six quarterbacks have been taken in the top three and Rep 1 has represent five of those. The only top-three quarterback they did not represent was Jameis Winston, No. 1 overall in 2015. He is represented by TLA Worldwide.

> STEINBERG BACK IN THE TOP 10: Veteran agent Leigh Steinberg has represented the No. 1 overall pick eight times in his more-than-30-year career, but he had not represented a top-10 pick since 2001. That changed this year.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes was one of the surprise risers in the draft. After being seen as a second-rounder at best early on in the draft, he ended up being taken No. 10 overall by the Chiefs, who traded up 17 spots to get him. Early scouting reports knocked Mahomes for working out of the spread system in college, instead of the pro-style offense favored in the NFL. Instead of being defensive about the perceived problem, Steinberg and Chris Cabott, who co-represent Mahomes, worked hard to solve it. They trained him in the pro-style offense, which he displayed for NFL scouts at the combine and at his pro day.

With that problem out of the way, teams started to look at him as an athlete, Steinberg said. “When they started to do that, they saw how freakishly gifted he was,” Steinberg said. “He rose like a rocket.”

Asked how it felt to represent a player picked in the top 10 again, Steinberg said, “Wonderful.”

Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.