NFL agent Nicole Lane has been a figure in the backrooms of professional football for several years, but it was her biggest moment in the spotlight this week when her client, the Philadelphia Eagles, signed quarterback Jalen Hurts, the largest annual deal in league history.
The Hurts agreed to a five-year, $255 million connection — $179.3 million guaranteed — with the NFC East franchise after guiding them to the Super Bowl last season.
how lin, They described themselves as “Jerry Maguire”.He came to represent one of the league’s hottest players, a story almost as inspiring as the career Hurts forged, once usurped at the University of Alabama before using Oklahoma as a springboard to the NFL and a close runner-up in the NFL’s 2022 MVP race.
Lynn, an OU alum herself — and already a certified agent — sent a direct message to Hurts on Instagram after his final collegiate game in 2020 — just three months after the draft — in something of a send-off and hope, “Total Hail Mary,” she said. described Sports Illustrated.
“I wasn’t even expecting him to see it,” she told the outlet in August. But Hurts did and gave her a chance to make a fool out of it.
Nicole Lane confirmed her place in the NFL this week, helping Jalen Hurts secure a record deal
With Lane’s help, Hurts signed a five-year deal with the Eagles worth $255 million
A TV series about Lane’s life is in the works and 50 Cent is overseeing production
Once the pair met, there was a connection between lived experiences that inspired a dynamic ostensibly beyond the typical agent-athlete relationship.
She said, “I’m a woman. People will overlook me. People will doubt me. They won’t give me due respect. But I get over it, just like you do” Hurts said of his first face-to-face interaction with Lynn, via SI. And this is where we really succeed. We had the same vision.
In fact, Lin was overlooked, although she was sometimes seen as something completely different.
“The collective security forces kicked me out of a player’s hotel, thinking I was a girlfriend trying to sneak in,” she said. NBC.
Lin was rewarded for shooting Hurts long before he became the quarterback considered near the top of the NFL’s signal callers. Just months into their working relationship, Hurts was selected in the second round with the 53rd pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Before becoming the face of the franchise and taking Philadelphia within three points of a second Lombardi Trophy in a stunning performance at Super Bowl LVII, he was the third quarterback.
Lynn celebrated Hurt’s seismic, history-making deal Social mediaand thanks her “little bro” for trusting her all those years ago inside Channelview High School, Texas. On the east side of Houston.
So happy for my little bro @jalenhurts to become the highest paid player in NFL history!
Lynn became the first black woman in history to be a first-round pick on Quinn Williams (CL), who was taken by the New York Jets franchise No. 3 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft.
It may be next time Lynn signs a new deal for Williams – he missed volunteer training on the Jets this week
The Jets’ All-Pro defensive lineman, still represented by Lynn, is in line for a monster contract
Thank you for trusting me with something of this magnitude. I remember sitting across from your old high school interview to be your agent. I’m a dreamer, but I’m not sure I ever imagined this is where we land.
Prior to her rise to the position of President of Football Operations at Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports Group, Lynn was a Wall Street financial analyst – a career she left for the NFL world via Norman OK.
“I came to law school with the sole purpose of becoming a sports agent,” said Lin, a 2015 graduate of OU Law School that same year.
“I’ve always wanted to help athletes get from college football to the NFL and then to the NFL.”
An internship with the NFLPA fueled her dreams before she joined the PlayersRep Sports agency – becoming the first female agent in their ranks, while still an associate at a Houston law firm, Hall Meetings.
Lane, who has become a powerhouse in the NFL agent world, pictured with Usher (left) in 2022
The Tulsa (CR) native is the President of Football Operations for Rich Bull (CL) Clutch Sports
Klutch Sports also has a presence in the NBA and is working with LeBron James
Three years later, in 2018, PlayersRep was purchased by Lil Wayne Young Money APAA Sports. The following year, Lane’s life changed after 2019’s No. 3 pick, Quinn Williams, chose her to be his agent.
In doing so, the former Crimson Tide star allowed Lynn to create history – becoming the first black women’s agent to be a first-round pick, no fewer than three stars.
Why Williams Chose to Hire an Agent was born out of Lane’s fleeting crushing and humiliating moment.
The Jets’ All-Pro defensive lineman — currently seeking a major contract of his own — happened to be a Speech 2018 She details her impoverished upbringing and a disastrous six-hour trip to meet a potential client for her birthday, who ultimately mocks her.
On the day of December 13, 2015, Lin wore a pair of heels, which sank into the mud, and it didn’t help her five-foot-four stature among the towering men who had just finished a college football game. In the end, she spoke to a player she was desperately hoping would become her first client. He does not like.
His face was as if he was on a show Punk’d…, Lin remembers. Then he said, “You are a sports agent?! “…and then he starts laughing and leaves.
The nameless player’s suspicions should not remain. In Williams’ mind, it never existed.
She could have done whatever she wanted to do for her birthday and she did. Talk to me a lot. Imagine how hard it must have been working for me, he said The athlete prior to the 2019 draft.
While trying to sign her first client, Lynn was mocked by a college football player in ’15
But now, her star is on the rise and she is a character who will continue to influence the league
Lynn is a self-confessed “dreamer” and it’s hard to chronicle her story without feeling like she has something of a storybook feel to it.
50 Cent seems to fall in line with that theory – he’s the executive producer of a sports agent drama based on Lane’s life and times. It is also an EP in the currently untitled series, on deadline.
But the dreamer is on the rise now, as evidenced by his ever-growing roster of clients, including perennial All-Pro Myles Garrett as well as confirmed first-round picks in this month’s NFL Draft; Will Anderson Jr. of Alabama and Began Robinson of Texas. Other possibilities include Tide’s Brian Branch and Xavier Hutchinson’s in Iowa.
One of Lane’s former clients, Chris Smith, tragically passed away Sunday — at the age of 31 — just hours after playing for the XFL’s Seattle Sea Dragons.
She shared a post about his death on her Instagram story along with several broken heart emojis.
April 27-29 in Kansas City marks new beginnings for those in Lynn’s stable, and for her, another evolutionary step will be her self-fulfilling prophecy.
