Meet Adisa Bakari, the agent who believes that Le’Veon Bell will sign for $17 million a year



… holdout may actually hurt his signing numbers

Adisa Bakari is not one of the marquee sports agents in the U.S. However, he has been one who is somewhat controversial right now in his quest to secure a $17 million a year contract for Steeler running back Le’Veon Bell.

Bell is the founder and CEO of TSGE (The Sports & Entertainment Group), a firm that represents current NFL football players and some boxers. Bell is the only very big name that Bakari represents, but he also has 42 other NFL players, according to his company’s website.

Included in that group are Tyrod Taylor, the current backup quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, and Matt Forte, a former running back for the Chicago Bears and New York Jets.

According to a story in Sporting News about Bakari and his agency, Bakari and Jeff Whitney have a background as executive compensation lawyers and litigators.

The story also notes that most of the NFL players that it represents come from historically black colleges and universities (HBCU). It notes that in 2016, that included “San Francisco 49ers safety Antoine Bethea, Dallas Cowboys linebackers Justin Durant and Deon King, Indianapolis Colts defensive end Kendall Langford and Detroit Lions safety Don Carey.”

Bell being hammered for failing to report

Whether or not Bell’s 2018 holdout — he has yet to report to the Steelers, who play their ninth game tomorrow night against the Carolina Panthers — pays dividends is anyone’s guess.

However, one former NFL GM and president does not think so. The Steelers offered Bell a one-year tender worth $14.544 million, but he has not reported and by the end of this week, he will have lost $7.7 million.

What kind of agent would allow his client to do so?

Former Titans president Jeff Diamond said that by not showing up thus far, Bell has hurt his chances of securing a great contract for next year. “Bell probably will not get the mammoth deal he expects when and if he hits free agency in March,” Diamond wrote in The Sporting News. “Teams will be wary of his selfishness, his injury history (11 games lost in his career) and his off-field issues (a DUI and marijuana possession case in 2015 that led to a two-game suspension, plus a substance-abuse violation that cost him three games in 2016).

“As a former NFL general manager, after all that has transpired with Bell, I know I would look elsewhere if I were seeking a free-agent back. I would be concerned about what happens once Bell gets a long-term deal. Will he be a player who refuses to play through minor aches and pains? Could coaches and teammates ever trust a player who has proved to be so self-absorbed?”

According to NFL.com, Bell and Bakari turned down an offer from the Steelers this summer that was for 5-years and $70 million, about $14 million a year. $33 million of that was guaranteed, they said.

Gurley contract

Whether or not Bell has listened to Bakari’s advice or has gone out on his own in this situation is anyone’s guess. Bakari reportedly is pointing to the deal signed by Rams running back Todd Gurley, who is making $14.375 million a year, according to Diamond. He said that $45 million of that is guaranteed.

However, Gurley does not have the baggage that Bell does. Still, Bakari believes that the Bell holdout gave Gurley the huge contract, the largest in the NFL right now.

Diamond does believe that Bell should report before next Tuesday’s deadline. “After so many miscalculations in this ill-conceived holdout, the worst move Bell could make at this juncture would be to not report to the Steelers at all. Beyond all the money he would give up over the rest of the season (another $6.844 million), he would further demonstrate to the rest of the NFL that his mindset is to avoid injury, which would make his market value decline even more,” he wrote.

Steelers do not want him

Who knows that the future will hold. The reality right now is that the Steelers do not need him or want him. Two linemen publicly criticized him after their win over the Browns on Sunday, and even Mike Tomlin made a snide comment about him.

Maybe Bakari will find a team that will pay him $17 mil a year, but he may be hard-pressed to discover anyone willing to give him a contract equal to that of Gurley.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dr. Chet Beres, M.D., the quarterback who gave of himself to so many people: Some Lilly Raiders who will not be with us on Saturday

Image
Chet Beres was a special human being … The 1968 championship QB is calling audibles from heaven On a few nights in late October 2010, I slept overnight at the Conemaugh Hospital palliative care unit. My brother, Father Jim, was clinging to life at the end of a long battle with cancer, and this unit was designed to make life easier for those in the final stages of disease — and for the families who wanted to spend their last days with their loved ones. It was at that time that while wandering through the hall, I noticed a plaque on the wall that warmed my heart, albeit in a sad way.  The palliative care unit was dedicated to Dr. Chet Beres, M.D., an advocate for those in hospice care. My mind flashed back to the Lilly Raider quarterback on the 1968 championship team, a young man who was bright, exuberant, and so popular with his teammates.  Chet went on to college at Pitt and to medical school after graduating from Penn Cambria. We knew that he was bright, but we also knew that he had c
Read more

Why did Tennessee-Chattanooga hire trainer Tim Bream despite his role in the alcohol-induced death of Tim Piazza at a Penn State frat?

Image
… was a live-in advisor at the fraternity On paper, Tim Bream has an impressive resume. Actually, very impressive — up to a point. That seems to be when Bream’s life appears to careen out of control. Bream, who resigned as Penn State trainer in Feb.,  was a graduate of Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, specializing in athletic training. He then attended West Virginia as a grad assistant trainer, where he received a master’s degree in Physical Education with an emphasis on Sports Science. All of this information is from his bio on the Penn State athletic site. He then worked his way up the ladder impressively, working at Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and finally at the University of Richmond, where he was the Director of Sports Medicine and Head Athletic Trainer. Then he received his big break, being name as Assistant Athletic Trainer for the Chicago Bears in 1993, and four years later, Head Athletic Trainer. He was with the Bears for 19 years when inexplicably, he
Read more

Remembering the toughest loss I ever experienced in approximately a quarter-century of coaching football. George Pasierb was a great coaching adversary.

Image
R.I.P. George Pasierb, 1946-2020 Shade-Central City High School football coach Photo: Tribune-Democrat No high school football fan could ask for anything better than this. On a beautiful sunny, warm afternoon on Saturday, October 30, 1982, in Nanty Glory, Pa., the battle featured a clash of two undefeated titans of the Appalachian Conference.  One was the preseason unanimous favorite to win the title, the other a veritable surprise that season, one that had built an 8-0 record entering that game.  This battle lived up to the pre-game hype, ending in a one-point decision that was not certain until the final play of the game.  I thought of this because the coach of the powerful Shade-Central City High School Panthers, George Pasierb, passed away earlier this week. He coached the Panthers for 20 years, but his best team was arguably that 1982 team that battled the Blacklick Valley Vikings on that Saturday afternoon before more than 3,000 ebullient fans.  And, the one-point loss was the to
Read more