Agent Brian Overstreet negotiates free agent deals worth up to $100 million

Veteran NFL agent Brian Overstreet had one of his biggest years ever since becoming a registered NFL contract advisor, negotiating free agent contracts with a maximum value of $100 million. The Sugarland, Texas-based representative hammered out a five-year deal worth up to $55 million for Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Dre' Kirkpatrick. He had a $7 million signing bonus, $23.8 million guaranteed and his deal averages $10.5 million per year. This year, he has a $5.23 million roster bonus and a $2.55 million base salary. Overstreet did a four-year, $30 million contract for New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Nick Fairley. The deal includes an $8 million signing bonus and $14 million guaranteed. Overstreet also did a three-year, $10 million contract for Carolina Panthers wide receiver Russell Shepard, including a $2.1 million signing bonus., and a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Chargers worth up to $5 million for defensive lineman Damion Square. The deal for Square includes a $1.225 million signing bonus. Square and Shepherd are now well-positioned to cash in later and hit the market in a few years. "The agent business has a lot of ups and downs, but our guys understand how committed we are to them so it feels real good to be a major part of setting them and their families up for the future," Overstreet said. "Each of our deals were unique and were shaped for the individuals. Dre' Kirkpatrick was in a great position to secure his future so it was paramount for us to not only get him a multi-year deal for at least $50 million, but also to get him $15 million in the first year. I believed in Nick Fairley and his talent enough to encourage him to to take two one-year deals and he trusted in me enough to buy in. So, it was very rewarding personally to negotiate a multi-year, $30 million deal with $14 million guaranteed for him at 29 years old. For guys like Damion Square and Russell Shepard it was important for me to negotiate deals that give them both a significant amount of money now yet provide them flexibility to get back to the free agent market in the very near future. Due to the individual relationships that we share with each one of those guys, it makes it easy to understand what's important to them and is extremely rewarding to help them reach their goals!" "It was great to see; it worked out very well for all of our guys," Overstreet said in a telephone interview. "It's been a long time coming for me. You're in this business and you try to add value and help kids and help them realize their dreams and help them in their life. From my perspective, when I first got into this business I was 28 years old, almost 20 years later, I look at it so differently. "It was a long time before I ever had a guy who had reached retirement age and I was really close to him in age. Initially, I looked at things a whole lot differently and have a different perspective on things. Now, I can bring a lot more value and I've seen a lot of things good and bad. From an advisory capacity, I'm able to tell them a lot more and how to be in a good steward of your money and be in a better place." Overstreet has learned over the years how to adjust to a changing market and industry. "What I've learned about this business is no matter how smart you are or how good your clients are, there's no substitute for experience," Overstreet said. "I've seen so much in this industry. All of that was very, very helpful with this not being my first time and knowing how to prepare for it and more importantly be able to prepare our clients for how to deal with it. "Setting expectations is huge because, unfortunately, as agents we all value our clients differently than a lot of the teams do because we're biased, of course. You have to monitor the market and have a great understanding of where your client stands. With my clients, we have fostered a family type atmosphere. I talk to them at least once a week or multiple times a week. We kind of have the pulse of what's going on and how they're playing. It's a different dynamic.
Aaron Wilson
Aaron Wilson covers the NFL for National Football Post, his second stint at the Post. He has previously written for Pro Football Talk and FOX Sports-Scout. Entering his 13th year covering the Baltimore Ravens, he's a beat writer for The Baltimore Sun. Wilson has also covered the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans.

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