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A few really interesting nuggets from Dan Leberfeld in the latest edition of “The Good Stuff.”
The NFL owners and players meet a few days a week, and then leave, and those week in-person discussions are over, until the next week. That has been the pattern.
These meetings have taken place on Long Island, Maryland, Chicago, Boston and now Minnesota.
This pattern frustrates a lot of people. You hear them say, “They should be locked in a room until they get the deal done.”
So why do they only meet a few days a week with time of the essence right now?
Well, first of all, some of the owners, in the meetings, like Bob Kraft, have other businesses to run.
Secondly, both sides need to report back to their lawyers and consultants to review what was discussed. The guys in the room don’t have all the answers. It’s a small group.
But according to an NFL source, don’t assume that there isn’t a lot of negotiating going on when the two sides aren’t physically together.
“There is a great deal of work that goes on outside of face-to-face meetings between the principles,” said the source. “And there also can be phone dialogue between face-to-face meetings. And there can be meetings taking place that are not known to the media. Just because the media doesn’t know what is happening doesn’t mean nothing is happening. In any major business deal, do you think the owners of the businesses meet round-the-clock every day? No way. The staffs spend most of the time on it.” . . .
Agent Howard Shatsky worked his butt off for defensive tackle Kenrick Ellis through the draft process. The kid has issues (thrown out of South Carolina and facing trial in Virginia, for punching a guy in the face, breaking his jaw and nose). Shatsky helped him sell the mercurial kid to teams like the Jets. He did a lot for him, acted like a father figure to a kid who needs a lot of guidance.
Now Shatsky is Ellis’ former agent. He dumped him for Brian Levy.
This is why I could never be an agent. This stuff goes on all the time. Drew Rosenhaus seems to pick up clients all the time.
I’m not going to criticize Levy. I don’t know what happened.
But this doesn’t reflect well on Ellis. Shatsky (who I have no relationship – there is no agenda here) busted his butt for the kid, and now Ellis drops him before his first contract is even signed.
Obviously somebody got in his ear down in Florida.
“That says a lot about Ellis,” said one unnamed Jets scribe, “and it ain’t good.”
In fact, it sucks out loud.
We are going to gather more facts on this story in the coming weeks, but one thing is very clear – the Jets need to get this kid in the building ASAP after the lockout. He needs their structure and discipline. He’s young and somewhat immature (hey, so was I had his age), and the longer he’s out of their picture, the more nervous they must be getting that something else might happen.
He doesn’t distinguish himself on twitter either. We had a recent note regarding him criticizing the West Palm Beach police.
His potential is enormous. He’s got 3-4 nose tackle written all over him.
But he needs to be in Florham Park sooner rather than later.
Not only does he need a ton of technique work, but a lot of guidance . . .
The picture above is of Virginia assistant lacrosse coach John Walker, son of Jets great Wesley Walker. They won the national championship a few weeks ago. John Walker played lacrosse at Army.