By Darren Heitner, Contributor
Matt Elam‘s name will be called before Saturday morning. By then, the first through third rounds of the 2013 NFL Draft will have come and gone, leaving four more rounds of players to be selected by NFL teams. In fact, if Elam’s name is not crossed off all team boards by the end of the second round, it will come as a surprise. The safety from the University of Florida Gators football team is strong, has proven to have a great sense of awareness on the field and is considered by many scouts as one of the best safeties available in this year’s Draft. Elam may not even make it past the first day (Friday) of the 2013 NFL Draft. As of April 18, nine out of twelve NFL.com analysts, including Matt Smith, Charles Davis, Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks projected Elam to be selected by the end of the first round, with Smith believing that the Cincinnati Bengals would choose him at the team’s twenty-first overall position. The safety who played three years at Florida before deciding it was the right time to leave school is about to receive a lot of money after he is drafted, and unlike every other player who is eventually selected in the same round as him, Elam may not have to pay a portion of his salary to a football agent. That is because Elam, named a first-team All-American by a variety of publications in 2012, has chosen to travel the path to the NFL Draft by himself. Actually, saying that Elam has traversed the pre-NFL Draft landscape by himself is not even a half-truth. Along the way, he has been guided by his brother, Abram “Abe” Elam, who has played on four different NFL teams and has been represented by three different agents throughout his career. Matt has also retained Ashley Kerns of Kerns Marketing and Management to assist the safety with marketing and public relations. But Elam has not signed a Standard Representation Agreement (“SRA”) with an NFLPA certified Contract Advisor. That means he will not have to pay up to three percent (3%) of his salary to an agent. There is nothing normal about this situation. In 2012, every single player drafted (out of a total of 253) was represented by an NFLPA Contract Advisor. Is there anything wrong with Matt Elam choosing to enter the NFL Draft without a contract advisor by his side? “I do get the question a lot about why rookie players need agents when the wages are predetermined,” explained respected NFL Business Analyst, Andrew Brandt, when asked about Elam’s decision. “Agents will point to the pre-Draft training, both physical and mental (interviews), as well as the positioning and information-gathering that goes on with scouts and teams. I do think there is some value to that, and certainly some tangible value in the IMG/API-type training facilities.” However, Elam did not have a need to receive monetary assistance from an agent in order to get the pre-Draft training he