We’ll call it the Mike Mayock effect, and it could help plenty of media personalities and their agents make plenty of money in the coming years.
Although the former NFL Network draft expert wasn’t hoping to do anything other than get a job putting into practice the things he had spent 15 years preaching when he became the G.M. of the Raiders, smart agents have seized on Mayock’s example as a way to get their clients better deals, or at a minimum to infuse them with added credibility.
Case in point: ESPN’s Todd McShay affirmatively disclosed that he was under consideration for a job in the Jets’ front office. McShay (represented by CAA) would have been hired by G.M. Joe Douglas (also represented by CAA) to work with coach Adam Gase (also represented by CAA). But McShay, as one source with knowledge of the situation previously explained it to PFT, was never a serious candidate for the job. And now, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, McShay has withdrawn his name from consideration for a job with the Jets.
So Douglas, who also played college football at Richmond with McShay, gave McShay an interview, McShay removed himself from consideration, McShay added the fact that he was under consideration to his broader resume, and McShay potentially has positioned himself for a better deal at ESPN.
Look for this kind of thing to continue, with TV personalities and their agents floating embellished or exaggerated rumors of candidacy for NFL jobs. It give the TV personalities added credibility and leverage at no cost. Mayock’s ability to parlay his spot at NFL Network into a G.M. job with the Raiders makes it all plausible, regardless of whether for some of the TV personalities none of it is what it seems to be.