You don’t really need an agent.”
That was the first thing that veteran agent Jack Mills told James Mayfield, father of Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, and it was music to his ears.
“I liked that,” James Mayfield related in a phone interview.
By the time the Mayfields met Mills, they had been approached by numerous agents, many from the biggest agencies in sports, looking to sign their son. Baker Mayfield is one of six quarterbacks who draft analysts say has a chance of being drafted in the first round of this April’s NFL draft. NFL Draft Scout had him ranked No. 15 on its mock draft last week.
James, his other son, Matt, and his wife Gina, had heard from all kinds of agents from all kinds of agencies for months, and in fact the year before, about how the quarterback needed an agent and why.
“We had some agents — in their self-promotion — say they would guarantee that Baker would be drafted No. 1 in the whole draft and if it didn’t happen they wouldn’t charge us the advisory fee,” James Mayfield said.
Matt Mayfield said of the agents making that guarantee, “Needless to say, we ran them off.”
James and Matt Mayfield run their own private equity firm, Camwood Capital Group, in Austin, Texas. Their business is evaluation, negotiation and purchase prices.
When they started their process of advising Baker on hiring an agent, one of the first things the Mayfields did was look at the current NFL collective-bargaining agreement and the rookie pay scale contained in it.
“For any of the top draft picks, it’s a math exercise,” James Mayfield said. “Obviously the numbers are slotted based on the position of being drafted.”
As previously reported, the Mayfields hired Waterhouse Hayes for marketing and other off-the-field work. But the Mayfields were considering going with a contract attorney who was not certified by the NFL Players Association for the playing contract work. They later learned that an attorney would have to be certified by the NFLPA in order to talk directly with teams, and that influenced their decision.
Gina Mayfield, Baker’s mom, said there wasn’t one thing that influenced their decision to hire an agent. “It really was a true progression,” she said.
Meeting Jack and his son, Tom Mills, was key, as the Mayfields not only liked them but received recommendations from people they knew in common, including current and former Oklahoma players and coaches.
Jack Mills has been an agent for more than 40 years. He, his son Tom Mills and Kevin Robinson, who also will be involved in Mayfield’s representation, are partners in Boulder, Colo.-based Capital Sports Advisors.
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Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.
