In the past several days, the conclusion of the Michael Crabtree holdout coupled with the ineligibility of Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant has caused folks to scrutinize the relationship between Deion Sanders and agent Eugene Parker.
Those events, and Deion's role therein, has sparked mounting speculation that Sanders is helping Parker land clients.
Parker, who had been silent throughout the Crabtree holdout and negotiations, has gone on the record to deny that Sanders is working for him.
"I really don't want to get in the position of having to defend this
because what can I really defend?" Parker told Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports. "The bottom line is,
Deion doesn't work for me. I was his agent for 17 years and during that
time it went from client to friendship. But he's not working for me."
Parker pointed to the fact that Sanders trains none of Parker's clients as evidence of the absence of a business relationship between the two men.
There's another fact that supports the notion that Sanders doesn't work for Parker. NFLPA regulations require full disclosure of all runners to the union and potential clients, and there's likely not a single document in which Parker discloses that Sanders is being paid to help in this regard. The obvious goal of the rule is to ensure that potential clients and their families are aware that the guy who's trying to get them to sign with a given agent has a financial interest in that transaction.
But when a person is disclosed as being a runner, his running instantly becomes far less effective. Moreover, in Deion's case, full disclosure of any such activities would create potential problems in his relationship with the NFL, since it would give rise to an actual or apparent conflict of interest.
Again, we don't know whether Sanders is being paid to help Parker land recruits. But there's enough smoke to at least justify a search for fire, by the NFL and by the NFLPA.
In this regard, Parker's denial can't be relied upon as the definitive answer. If he were to admit that Sanders works for him, Parker would be walking right into a major problem with the NFLPA, which has the exclusive authority to regulate all agents.
Parker denies that Deion is working for him
Posted by Mike Florio on October 9, 2009 9:55 PM ET
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Sander's bank accounts should be investigated.
What Parker is alive? Was this a live rebuttal? Or was he propped up like Weekend at Bernie's?
Deion = Street Agent!!!!!!!! It happens in college all the time getting recruits to a certain college and now NFL agents are using these street agents to acquire College clients. This shit will never change...
Isn't it time for Sanders to pull out the religion card ? The one where he reminds everybody what a stalwart Christian he is, therefore, not guilty.
Unless by "working for him" you mean Deion is out on the street corner in his fanciest dress winking at all of the great Division I, high-impact, college football players walking by.
If that's not what you mean, then no, he's not working for him.
Silly me. I was thinking he would come out and admit to the obvious and endanger himself and Deion.
Lets not forget the college kids Deion is escorting around. Assume he is doing this out of goodwill. Shame the only ones he cares about are future NFL prospects.
Looks just as suspicious as a 40 year old man building an amusement park in his backyard for kids that are not his own.
Nothing to see here.
Is this like prostitution? By which I mean: does money have to trade hands for Sanders to be considered a runner under the rules? If so then Parker might not be paying him at all. Sanders and Parker are friends, and thus Sanders already has an interest in promoting Parker because of their friendship. If money has changed hands however Parker and Sanders should both be punished severely. Sanders has already done a lot of damage to the 49ers, the Cowboys (college), and possibly, if the tampering allegations lead to a penalty, the Jets.
This is great stuff, Florio. You're turning into the Joe McCarthy of NFL bloggers.
One thing everyone should be able to agree on is that Deion sure is ugly.
Revisit this when Dez Bryant signs on with Eugene Parker .... and you know that will happen.
Here's an old quote from Parker regarding his negotiations with Arizona on behalf of Fitzgerald: "The focus stayed on what was important: getting him there on time." So why did Crabtree not merit this one thing that was important?
and where is carlton fisk when ya need him?
Follow the money...
I know the perception is that agents make tons of money, but isn't it like 3%. So if Crabtree got $6 million up front (hypothetical figure), Parker gets "only" 180k. (Then he has expenses taken from that, and at some point taxes too.) So how much of that do you think would go to Sanders, and is Sanders' price really that low? That part doesn't add up to me. I doubt Sanders is getting paid money, and gets something else out of it instead.