The Unsung Hero In The Nnamdi Asomugha Acquisition: Ben Dogra
"The Eagles went into free agency knowing what they wanted to pay for Asomugha and they wouldn't go any higher than that. They expressed their interest and intentions to Dogra and they requested that their interest be kept secret from the public. Dogra complied and never mentioned the Eagles to anyone--not even his client--until the very last minute. Jon Tamari of the Philadelphia Inquirer also points out that Dogra "didn't even tell his assistant who reviews contracts about the possible deal until after it was announced."
I was a real estate broker who earned a living representing office tenants against landlords. I know something about what it means to putt your client's interests ahead of your own. I strongly believe that Ben Dogra keeping Nnamdi Asomugha in the dark about the Eagle offer is clearly not living up to his responsibilities. He was clearly representing the Eagles primarily and not Nnamdi. Nnamdi might have wanted to end up somewhere else all things being close to equal. Once he knew what the Eagles were planning to pay, he could have insisted on giving another team to have the opportunity to match.
The circumstances make me think that Dogra used the same technique in negotiating with the Giants. Steve Smith had a good relationship with the Giants. If he and his agent had spoken to the Giants about what they needed to pay, they would at least have bid higher. The fact that that didn't happen certainly makes it look like Steve Smith was kept in the dark when he visited the Giants.
Ben Dogra's tactics indicate that his priority was making the Eagles happy, not his client Steve Smith. The article in an Phily publication, trys to make Ben Dogra look like an "unsung hero". I think, instead, it makes him look like someone. lacking in integrity, who in this instance put his own financial interests ahead of his clients.
He should have his clients interests, and only his clients interests, in mind when negotiating.
That's proven not to be the case
You can argue that Dogra was in a pinch but he really wasn't, all it takes is a phone call.
Link - ( New Window )
Now we hear he isn't telling clients of offers- what would have happened if the Eagles turned around and said no thanks at the last minute- and there was a mega deal on the table the whole time that came to light.
This is just the tip of this iceberg. Two things will happen. Dogra will wise up and be more discreet - maybe stop keeping offers from clients- OR- his ego will keep him doing the same thing - and he will go down in flames- and it will be a HUGE black eye to the sport
and
All of this is more reason to appreciate what Ben Dogra did for the Eagles.?
What if the Pats offered 5M this year for Steve Smith and he will never know about it?
Basically the Eagles and Dogra are able to do business with each other because he understands how they works and they have a long-term trust factor with him dating back to the Jon Runyan deal. Runyan had verbally agreed with the Eagles and the Titans tried to get back into it at the last minute by offering a little more but Dogra and Runyan kept their word.
Asomugha wanted to be a Cowboy - ( New Window )
Dogra appears to have been playing the role of the Pied Pipper. Leading his quality players to the Eagles while keeping them unaware of what he knew was going to happen, until after it happened. That way, he was more confident that he could deliver them. Along the way, his silence may have cost his players money, by eliminating possible competition. If the Giant's knew it would take a $2 million guarantee to resign Smith, how do we know they wouldn't have paid it?
If you really think that then you are as naive as Vince Young calling a team that has 0 Lombardi's a dream team.
Dogra's in a sticky spot- if ANY of this is true, he runs the risk of losing not only his agent credentials but his law license as well.
To answer the question as to why he would be willing to withhold offers from clients there are many reasons, #1 and most likely is a nice yearly kickback. While a standard agent commission on a 10 million dollar contract is nice, knowing that you have a steady 1 million yearly PLUS perhaps a higher under the table commission for any clients that you steer to one specific franchise (ahem...Eagles)...could be more lucrative.
I'm telling you I don't care about Steve Smith being an Eagle- in fact I feel terrible for him since he is going to wind up ruining any possible career that he has left by being rushed onto the field by a questionable medical staff of a team that essentially signed him to a 1 year deal to try to squeeze any last drop of juice from the orange and then throw away the remains.
What I do care about is that this reeks of something much much bigger and worse...something that could potentially kill a franchise. Think the 49ers of the 90's x 100.
Serious Serious stuff.
Sure the agent gets a percentage of what the player gets, (so it makes sense to deliver him to the highest bidder); but what if the Eagle told him ...
"You deliver all these guys to us, keep them away from everybody else, and we'll make worthwhile for YOU [wink]; now run-along little puppy, and keep this to yourself".
So, OK then, he's just not screwing the Giants, Dallas and who else ? No wonder he feels the need to be so stealthy.
Specifically relating to Asomugha, the one poster who said the Eagles simply offered Asomugha the most might be correct. It is true that Asomugha said Philly was his first choice but I'm sure a lot of players/agents tell teams they were their first choice and vice versa. I haven't seen anything concrete on what the Jets were offering. Dallas was reportedly in the $10M+/year range if Jerry Jones can be believed. I realize there are different posters with different opinions here, but it's kind of funny to hear an argument that Philly wasn't the team Asomugha wanted to play for and it was all about money while at the same time reading arguments that Asomugha's agent must have been screwing him and not telling him of other team's allegedly richer offers.
Do you think that it was appropriate for Ben Dogra and the Eagles to be working together, while Ben Dogra was pretending to be working for the player? Both Dogra and the Eagles should be embarrassed for behaving inappropriately imo.
you can try and spin it another way, but every action and result from his clients and himself paint a pretty clear picture.
That's OK though. Karma's a bitch.
What makes no sense at all is why he kept the offer away from his client.
Does anyone think that Steve Smith may choose a different agent to represent him in the future. (If he has any desire to possibly sign back up with the Giants in the future, he probably needs to illustrate that he was unhappy with how the Giants were treated without respect.
The Giants did the same thing when Plaxico's former agent shopped their offer in 2005. They pulled it. Plaxico had to fire his agent and hire a new one before the Giants would resume negotiations. And how do you think the Giants felt when Rod Coleman's agent took an offer that they had agreed on and shopped it to Atlanta?
The Eagles are smart and Dogra is doing what's best for his clients. And the Patriots are the same way. It's understood by agents that if the Patriots interest in one of their clients becomes public, any possible deal is off the table.
With it being an uncapped year and the lockout looming, Smith was just in the wrong place at the wrong time (like a lot of guys around the league) for negotiating a contract extension. From everything I read last year, it was pretty much understood that Smith would have to wait until free agency to get a reasonable deal. The shame of it was that he got seriously injured in 2010.
An agent is employed by a player and the "employer" is entitled to know what the agent knows. If he doesn't, then the player has no imput into what his how he wants to proceed. The agent doesn't have the right to pretend he is the player's father and make a decision like leaving the player out of the loop.
I'd like to Ben explain to Steve Smith that he didn't include him in the loop because he was afraid Steve Smith would screw things up. How do you think Steve would react to being informed that his agent thought he was going to screw things up.
Dogra told the Giants there was a market for Smith (without telling them the team) during Smith's last visit, but the Giants just thought it was agent talk. Now after the fact, Coughlin is complaining that nobody told the Giants there was competition. But the Giants were told, they just didn't believe it.
This was a case of the Giants misreading the market and not wanting to pay any more than they thought was necessary for one of their own. Reese claims that the Giants made reasonable offers to all of their players, but if the offer they made Smith was so reasonable, why are they complaining after the fact that they weren't given a chance to match a competitive offer?
The Giants should've made Smith a competitive offer from the get-go. For four years he played under a late second rounders contract, while performing like a first round pick and helping the team win a Super Bowl (and then getting injured "in the line of duty" at the most inopportune time). The Giants should've rewarded him. Instead they low-balled him because they thought they could get away with it.
This one is on the Giants, not Smith, and not Dogra. When Smith was asking for loyalty, the Giants said it's strictly business. Now we have Smith saying it's strictly business and the Giants (or their fans) claiming "where's the loyalty?" Loyalty is a two-way street.
The Giants thought they had a good relationship with Steve Smith. Tom Coughlin stated that he thought Steve Smith was going to be a lifetime Giant. No the Giants didn't assume that no one would bid against them. They just assumed that he wanted to return to the Giants and therefore would give the Giant's a chance to match any offer. They were surprised that they didn't get a chance to match.
If Ben Dogra wanted to get the highest amount of money for his client, he could have told the Giants that they were going to talk to the Eagles. That would have persuaded the Giants to bid a higher number. Why did he say they were just going to talk to some other team? Its a much more potent threat when you include a name. If you don't name a team, it misleads the team into assuming it is just an agent talking. I suggest he did it that way because he wanted to make the deal with the Eagles.
The Giants organization has no right to ask for loyalty from Smith. They didn't give him the offer he wanted and he or his agent made a business decision.
The Giants fans however do not have to abide by the same rule. The fans have no say in the negotiations. There's no control on any of our part. The only thing we can do is be loyal to our players...particularly one who spent years saying he loved the Giants fans and he would do anything to remain a Giant and sending pictures of empty trophy cases to the Eagles, and so on and so on. The fans constantly supported him during recovery...go through the ridiculous amount of twitter and facebook posts. The fans remained loyal then the guy who preached about loving his fans and doing anything to remain a Giant said I'm going to the division rival because I want more money....
The fans have every right to be upset with him..we all understand he followed the money and its just business but football and the Giants is not about business to us...The Giants fans reacted much the way you would expect..let down by someone they trusted...
Everyone likes to compared Smith to LeBron but let's be honest...Smith is nowhere near that same league. The closest thing you can compare here in every sense is Johnny Damon going from the Sox to the Yankees. It's jumping shit to a division rival for the money..
This is by far the best conspiracy theory next to George Bush knocked downt he tower...what's next?
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Dogra complied with the Eagles' style likely because they have cap room and are loading up for a run, which meant that by helping to deliver Asomugha, he could call in a favor on other clients, such as Smith.
I'm not saying it's an underhanded scheme by Dogra (I think shit like this happens all the time where teams and agents do each other favors that ultimately leverage one client's value against another), but spare me the bullshit about the Eagles' top secret security clearance negotiating.
Hate all you want - ( New Window )
Die in a fucking fire you cocksucker.