Lamar Jackson says he doesn’t need an agent

Lamar Jackson cleared up a few things on Friday. His mother is not his agent, she’s his manager. He will be his own agent during the NFL Draft process.

One would think that a former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback would command one of the best sports agents when he is about to enter the NFL Draft. Though that is surely the case with most, that cannot be said for 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson.

The former Louisville Cardinals dynamic dual-threat quarterback has opted to leave school a year early and enter the 2018 NFL Draft without hiring an agent. Initially, it was said that his mother was his agent, but Jackson cleared this up with ESPN’s Josina Anderson at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Friday.

Jackson’s mother will be his manager, while Jackson will be his own agent. He feels that he can best represent himself because of “the current rookie scale for initial NFL contracts.” Is Jackson making the right call here?

At the time of the combine, Jackson is a fringe first-round pick. Though he dominated the ACC with this dual-threat playmaking abilities at Louisville, some NFL scouts question if he will be accurate and durable enough at the next level.

Jackson is arguably the closest thing we’ve seen to Michael Vick coming out of college. While Vick electrified the NFL as the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons in the early 2000s, he never emerged as a consistent NFL passer. Jackson played in a passer-friendly offense at Louisville for Bobby Petrino. Even still, he struggled to hover around 60 percent passing in college.

Some teams want to see if Jackson’s undeniable athleticism could translate to other positions in the league, most notably wide receiver. Jackson has dispelled that notion of switching positions, as he is a quarterback. He has also mentioned that he is not great at catching the football.

Truth be told, Jackson could probably negotiate his first rookie contract with the help of the rookie salary scale. However, little does become big over time with these sort of things. Jackson could end up costing himself maybe a million dollars over the lifetime of that deal. That being said, he won’t have to pay an agent a portion of that deal.

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If Jackson were to be going in the top-10 of this draft, it would make sense for him to hire an agent to ensure he’d be getting top dollar for that selection. However if he’s going in the late 20s to mid-30s, it’s probably not the end of the world for him to act in his own best interests. Just don’t run a route for anybody and you should be good.