As the Seahawks and quarterback Russell Wilson’s agent negotiate a long-term contract, Russell Wilson’s agent has one thing going for him: He won’t have to worry about handling any business on behalf of other NFL clients.
Like Tom Hagen in The Godfather, Mark Rodgers has a special practice; he handles only one football client. That football client is Russell Wilson.
Apart from the fact that Rodgers won’t have other football clients getting in the way of Wilson’s business, Rodgers won’t have to give any consideration to the potential impact of his negotiating tactics on other clients. For agents who have an extensive roster of clients, relationships with coaches and General Managers become critical to getting contracts completed and to creating opportunities for players who otherwise would remain unemployed. And if those relationships are bad, the client’s interests can be significantly impaired; some agents become sufficiently notorious that teams shy away from signing or drafting their clients.
Rodgers doesn’t have to worry about any of that. He needs to be concerned only with getting the best deal possibility for his one and only football client. Which allows Rodgers to take any and all positions that he wants to take in order to get the best outcome for Wilson, without regard to the impact those positions may have on those other clients that he doesn’t have.
While this may not result in anyone waking up with the disconnected head of a horse in their bed, it definitely complicates the situation for the Seahawks.