Slaton fires agent and hires new one

[Joshua]

profootballtalk.com is reporting that Slaton fired his agents and hired new ones. While it may be nothing, for a guy only one year into his rookie deal, this seems to come at an odd time. Hope this doesn't mean that Slaton also thinks he's outplayed his contract and wants to renegotiate.

[Keith]

link to PFT report:
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/...itches-agents/

Houston Texans running back Steve Slaton has switched agents, according to a league source.

And we’ve confirmed through NFL Players Association records that Slaton is now represented by Harold Lewis of National Sports Agency in St. Louis.

The former West Virginia star was previously represented by Ethan Lock and Eric Metz.

I think it has to be a signal that Lewis has sold Slaton on his abilty to get him an extension. A holdout by Slaton would actually catch the team's attention given their utter lack of a competent backup. Not getting another RB (outside of crossing fingers on Chris Brown and signing a couple UDFAs) has to be the biggest failure of the offseason.

Agency website: http://nationalsportsagency.net/

I wondered at first if this might have been Ryan Grant's agent, who I think is Allan Herman. Grant got a sweet contract before last season. Looks like this agency though represents Bart Scott, Jacoby Jones, Morlon Greenwood, Harry Williams, and others.

[cadams]

I don't know that the texans could really afford to give slayton a new deal before ryans and daniels though. If they gave slayton a new one first it would cause a sh*t storm with those guys i would think.

[cland]

It's a little early for extension money...he has three years left before becoming an RFA. I bet he was sold a marketing package, as a RB a lot of his money can come from the commercial and endorsement packages his agent can scare up.

I'm kind of proud of him if that's the case, after all some successful rookie running backs change their nicknames...some change their bottom line. [hmm, there's the making of a haiku in there somewhere]

[kravix]

It could be that his agents were pushing for a holdout and extension and Slaton said bye bye greedy.

To me it would be folly for any RB in this system to get hard nosed and demand alot of money. Look at the success Gibbs has had with late round talent and really the team could tell Steve or any other RB thay they are a product and can shove it, rather than renegotiating.

[nunusguy]

Let's hope that Slaton doesn't start lobbying for a new contract NOW ! I dunno, but that seems like it would be terrible timing for the Texans while being great for him in terms of the leverage he'd have.
Will Slaton ever be in a better position than he is right now given the kind of standout rookie season he had last year and how relatively little he makes as a result of not being taken until the third round of last years Draft ?
Slaton is a likeable young man who is by all accounts very high in the character department who stepped up and was clearly one of the MVPs on the Texans roster in the absense of the way over compensated Green who was out most of the year with injuries. Slaton could have a very mediorce year in 2009 or worse get seriously injured and miss a lot of time. And the Texans have been pumping a lot of PR his way and he's becoming a primary face of the offense along with AJ. I know the history of Denver-bred Kubiak with running backs, but maybe Slaton is just a little more valuable member of the Texans roster than most of the backs in Denver history when Kubiak was up there ?
BTW, what the hell is taking the Texans so long to get a long-term deal worked out with DeMeco ? And please don't say they've got rookies to sign
since no rookie and few vets if any are as important to the team as DeMeco.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by kravix

.

To me it would be folly for any RB in this system to get hard nosed and demand alot of money. Look at the success Gibbs has had with late round talent and really the team could tell Steve or any other RB thay they are a product and can shove it, rather than renegotiating.

You are absolutely right about the Texans saying it's the system...The problem is that gives Slaton more reason to play hardball now. He knows ( and so do his agents) that we struggled with the running game before he showed up. He knows that he's going to have a short shelf life in the NFL, and being a third round pick he has yet to see a decent (by NFL standards) paycheck. He knows that by the end of his rookie deal could be too late. One minor injury that limits him in a game or two could be the window for some other young player to come in put up huge numbers hurting his value to the team. Injuries could have started to mount and teams usually don't shell out big deals for veteran RB's with a lot of wear on their tires.

My point is he can look at The past history of Denver back and see that they went through them pretty quick so he better get paid now while he still has leverage. If he waits too long ther's likely going to be someone to repalce him. We haven't been as good as old Denver used to be at just plugging in any old RB, but the risk is still there. I don't think he'll holdout this year, or maybe I'm just hoping, but I could definitely understand why if he did. I think he'll wait until next year. If he's as good over 16 full games next year as he was last year the Texans would almost be forced to pony up. It will be interesting because I'm sure McNair remembers what happened with Dominic whatever his name is.

[Keith]

I missed this from over a week ago, but in Kuharsky's AFC South blog, he posted an email he received from Slaton's new agent.

"WE ARE ALL SO EXCITED TO HAVE HIM PART OF OUR FAMILY ..WE ALL KNEW WHAT A TALENT HE WAS ON THE FIELD, BUT THIS KID IS EVEN BETTER OFF THE FIELD!!!! OUR ENTIRE TEAM HERE AT NSA TRULY FEELS BLESSED TO HAVE HIM..."

"OUR HOPE FOR HIM IS THAT HE WILL JUST GET BETTER AND BETTER EVERY WEEK, AND HELP HIS TEAM TO THE PLAYOFFS AND BEYOND ...AND AFTER REALLY GETTING TO KNOW HIM, I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT WILL HAPPEN....OF COURSE WITH SUCCESS COMES GREAT "NEW " CONTRACTS....AND NOTHING MAKES ME HAPPIER THEN THAT!!!!"

"STAY TUNED..."

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth/...o-get-him.html

First, yes, this is not the first agent I've seen email in all caps. Annoying. Second, as Kuharsky interprets, it seems like no holdout or new contract demands are imminent, and I agree. But you gotta know that Slaton is setting himself up to ask for even bigger money next year.

[cadams]

that is good news. now they just need to get daniels and ryans new deals.

[Keith]

http://www.inthebullseye.com/archive/2009/20090708.html

Originally Posted by cadams

that is good news. now they just need to get daniels and ryans new deals.

Hopefully it is good news, but we won't know for sure until Slaton hits the field for training camp.