Sports agents have been under a lot of heat recently, mostly because Jay Z has stepped into the business and started snagging people’s clients. Now, the question is whether or not you even need one. After all, Matt Elam was able to get a pretty tight deal without a fancy suit over his shoulder. Just know this: if athletes didn’t hire agents, they wouldn’t be there to screw up when asked to do their job. Unfortunately for 49ers defensive back Tarell Brown, it’s a little too late for him.
Brown elected to skip a voluntary workout program with the ‘Niners, instead choosing to workout in his home state of Texas. What he didn’t know was that, per his contract, he needed to take part in those workouts if he didn’t want to forfeit $2 million of his salary. Whoops. The San Francisco’s Chronicle’s Eric Branch reports.
#49ers CB Tarell Brown said he "parted ways" with agent Brian Overstreet today after learning he'd forfeited $2 million in base salary.
— Eric Branch (@Eric_Branch) July 26, 2013
Not only was Brown not aware of this stipulation in his contract, but also Overstreet didn’t even bring it to Brown’s attention that he was about to lose two-mil. He had to go elsewhere to figure that out.
How did Tarell Brown find out he’d forfeited $2 million in base salary: “Twitter,” he said. #49ers
— Eric Branch (@Eric_Branch) July 26, 2013
Unbelievable. And because of Overstreet’s negligence, a lion’s share of Brown’s salary goes down the drain. According to Yahoo!, he was supposed to make $2,925,000, now that’s instantly decreased to $925,000. Though Brown probably should have been aware of such a costly penalty without his agent’s help, it’s Overstreet’s job — or it was — to make sure that he knows. Step your game up, sport agents, or there’s going to be a lot more players taking the Matt Elam route.
