Should Sports Agents Intervene with Coaches?
Do sports agents wield any influence with their clients’ coaches? When heralded Detroit Lions rookie Matthew Stafford was declared out for Sunday’s game against the Ravens, Stafford’s agent undoubtedly breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Stafford’s shoulder has been bothering him for several weeks. He famously threw a last-second touchdown pass with the injured shoulder last month, but the Lions are a team that is going nowhere. Why risk permanent and debilitating injury if Stafford is unable to single-handedly revive this moribund franchise’s hopes? No matter how well he plays, he will not salvage the season, which means that Stafford should be held out, and should have been held out for the entire time he was injured.
Jack Bechta recently wrote that sports agents should intervene and insist that their client be properly evaluated, and if necessary, held out of game action. Sports agents have to tread a thin line between their ensuring that their intervention does not cause any additional problem between their client and the team. But as we have written previously, sports agents have a fiduciary duty to protect their clients’ long-term interests. If intervention is the best way to protect the interests, then the agent is obligated to speak up.
