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Drew Rosenhaus is among the best known American football sports agents. He owns the Miami-based sports agency, Rosenhaus Sports, and is known for aggressive representation of his NFL clients, often generating highly lucrative contracts for them, and recommending that they hold out from practicing or playing when his contractual terms are not met by NFL owners. His approach to player representation has been sometimes controversial, and is a source of great debate in NFL circles.

He was the basis for the character "Bob Sugar" in the popular 1996 movie Jerry Maguire.

Rosenhaus currently represents over 90 NFL players, many of them NFL superstars, including Chad Johnson, Willis McGahee, Sam Madison, Santana Moss, Terrell Owens, Warren Sapp, Sean Taylor, Zach Thomas, Billy Volek, and others.

Biography

The "Miami Mafia"

Drew Rosenhaus is a 1987 graduate of the University of Miami and, in 1990, obtained a law degree from Duke University School of Law. Drawing heavily on his college connections, sixteen of Rosenhaus' 90 NFL clients are fellow University of Miami alumni. Rosenhaus is considered a member of the "Miami mafia," a small but very tight-knit group of prominent, influential University of Miami alumni involved in business, politics and sports. The group is known for their close and sometimes secretive professional and social collaborations that usually have included extensive reciprocal professional support for each other.

Advocating holdouts and other aggressive tactics

Rosenhaus is famously known both for his aggressive and sometimes risky approaches to the representation of his NFL clients, and also for often generating unpredictably large contracts for them. He represents some of the best-known and most flamboyant personalities in professional football.

Due to his aggressive dealings, some of Rosenhaus' competitors claim Rosenhaus sometimes violates NFL Player's Association (NFLPA) rules by illegally contacting clients signed with other agents. Rosenhaus and his clients deny this charge. His competitors also claim that Rosenhaus uses players to vigorously recruit other NFL players and prospects, which, if true, also would represent a violation of NFLPA policies. According to the NFLPA, however, there have been no formal findings of violations of their policies by Rosenhaus, though Rosenhaus' approaches to client representation are considered some of the most controversial in professional football.

1998: A Shark Never Sleeps

Rosenhaus is the subject of a 1998 biography, A Shark Never Sleeps: Wheeling and Dealing with the NFL's Most Ruthless Agent. In addition to his appearance in Jerry Maguire, Rosenhaus appeared in another movie about professional football, Any Given Sunday, released in 1999.

2003: Representation of Willis McGahee

One prominent example of Rosenhaus' success as an agent was his representation of former University of Miami star running back Willis McGahee, who, in January 2003, suffered a disastrous, potentially career-ending knee injury in his final college game (the Fiesta Bowl, which was the national championship game that year; Miami lost) and, one month after the injury, signed with Rosenhaus with the goal of obtaining an NFL contract.

Rosenhaus predicted that, under his representation, McGahee would be a first-round NFL draft pick in the 2003 NFL draft. A seemingly arrogant prediction at the time, Rosenhaus also offered to waive his standard three-percent commission and work for free if McGahee failed to be drafted in the first round. Surprising to many, the Buffalo Bills picked McGahee in the first round as the 23rd overall choice in the draft. This was despite the fact that McGahee, still suffering from a devastating knee injury, started his career with the Bills not only unable to play, but barely able to walk. After successful reconstructive surgery and intensive rehabilitation, McGahee signed a five-year contract with Bills worth about $16 million. McGahee is currently one of the NFL's most promising young running backs.

July 2005: Saving a life in Orlando

While Rosenhaus is unpopular in some corners for his confrontational negotiation on behalf of his NFL clients, he received very positive national attention on July 19, 2005, when he saved the life of a four-year-old boy, Maurice Hill. Hill had no pulse and had essentially drowned in the pool at the Grand Floridian Hotel in Orlando. Rosenhaus, a former lifeguard, dove into the pool, pulled Hill out of the pool and administered CPR until paramedics arrived and restored the youngster's breathing.

Rosenhaus was credited with saving the young boy's life. Regarding the event, Rosenhaus joked that he "put down his phone" for a change. "I was thrilled to help the boy. It was nice to be a good guy for once," Rosenhaus said.

2005-2006: The Terrell Owens affair

On November 2, 2005, Rosenhaus client Terrell Owens' relationship with the Eagles deteriorated further after Owens reportedly was involved in a physical altercation with former Eagles player and current Eagles fan "ambassador" Hugh Douglas, just a day following Owens' public criticism of Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb in an interview with ESPN. Eagles coach Andy Reid privately demanded that Owens apologize to the team and to McNabb. Owens only partly fulfilled the request, however, issuing a brief public apology and failing to mention McNabb by name. Rosenhaus was subsequently asked by the Eagles to intervene with Owens in an effort to resolve the tensions between Owens and the team.

What efforts Rosenhaus exerted remain unknown, but they were unsuccessful. On November 5, 2005, a day before the team's conference game against the Washington Redskins, the Eagles announced that they were suspending Owens indefinitely from the team. The day following the game, on November 7, the Eagles announced that Owens would remain suspended and ultimately would be released from the team. Owens promptly filed a complaint against the Eagles with the NFLPA.

On November 8, with Rosenhaus at his side, Owens issued an apology from the front lawn of his New Jersey home to Philadelphia fans, fellow players and the Eagles organization, expressing his desire to immediately return with the team. "There are players in the NFL that are arrested who violate the program when it comes to drugs and substance abuse and they are not punished as severely as him," Rosenhaus said.

Philadelphia media were generally highly critical of Rosenhaus' handling of the Owens' affair. Owens only read a short prepared statement, after which Rosenhaus dominated the podium and refused to answer most questions. One Philadelphia journalist asked Rosenhaus pointedly during the Owens press conference, "What have you done for T.O., besides get him kicked off the Eagles?" The question drew a subtle smirk from Owens and Rosenhaus responded only by asking for the "next question."

Despite the apology, the Eagles stated that they had no intention of permitting Owens to return to the team and reinforced that he would remain deactivated for the rest of the 2005 season, after which the Eagles released him permanently. His future after the Eagles quickly became one of the largest sports stories of the year.

On November 18, 2005, Rosenhaus again returned to Philadelphia to represent Owens at a marathon 14-hour arbitration hearing on Owens' suspension. The hearing, which was closed to the public, also was attended by Reid and other Eagles officials, who continued to defend their decision to suspend Owens. Rosenhaus demanded the immediate reinstatement of the wide receiver, but the arbitrator found the Eagles were justified in suspending him for four games and that they do not have to allow him back after the suspension.

January 2006: Owens' released by Philadelphia, signed by Dallas

The Owens affair was complicated further, however, when several prominent Eagles players stated publicly that they would welcome Owens' return. In January, 2006, Rosenhaus announced that he had received permission from the Eagles to pursue a new NFL affiliation for Owens in the 2006 season. On March 14, 2006, the Eagles released Owens, hours before he would be due a $5 million roster bonus. The Eagles announced his release in a one-sentence statement, and team officials said they would have no further comment. Had Owens not been cut by the Eagles, he was due to earn base salaries of $770,000 plus $7.5 million in bonuses in 2006, $5.5 million in 2007, $6.5 million in 2008, $7.5 million in 2009 and $8.5 million in 2010.

Owens was signed by the Dallas Cowboys on March 18, 2006. Media reports indicated that Owens' contract with the Cowboys was for three years and $25 million.

The ramifications of the Owens saga included wideout Javon Walker firing Rosenhaus as his agent in late 2005 after Owens did not get his desired contract.

NFL clients

Some of Rosenhaus' NFL clients include:

References

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External links

Living people | American businesspeople | American lawyers | Duke University alumni | Jewish-American businesspeople | Miami Hurricanes football | Miamians | University of Miami alumni

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Drew Rosenhaus".

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