Quarterback Jalen Hurts has agreed to a five-year, $255 million contract extension with the Philadelphia Eagles, including $179.3 million guaranteed, one of the biggest contracts in NFL history, according to NFL Network.
Hurts, 24, will now have the highest average annual contracted value ($51 million) of any player in the NFL, and he can thank his agent: Nicole Lynn.
Lynn, 34, is one of the up-and-coming agents in the NFL, and is president of football operations for Klutch Sports Group, the agency founded by LeBron James confidant Rich Paul.
A former Wall Street financial analyst with multiple FINRA certifications, Lynn worked at sports-management company PlayersRep until 2021 before moving to Klutch.
She owes her business relationship with Hurts to an Instagram
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direct message. “Hey, have you picked an agent? If not, I’d love to link,” Lynn’s cold DM to Hurts read in January 2020. Lynn later described the DM to Sports Illustrated as “a total Hail Mary.”
Hurts, who like Lynn attended the University of Oklahoma, agreed to meet with her and came away impressed. “History everywhere. I feel like regardless of the perception of what it may seem to [be] with an African-American woman agent, I really saw something in her and I feel like she’s a grinder — she’s going to go get it,” Hurts reportedly told Boardroom in February. “Kinda like myself, no one expects you to do much. I feel like we saw eye-to-eye in terms of hunger and determination to succeed, and she’s making history.”
As of 2022, of the more than 900 NFL Players Association–certified agents, just 67 are women.
Lynn has been Klutch’s top NFL agent for less than two years, but she already has an impressive client portfolio. Her other notable NFL clients include Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Myles Garrett, New Emgland Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe, New York Giants offensive tackle Evan Neal and top 2023 NFL Draft prospects Bijan Robinson and Will Anderson Jr.
See also: Here’s how much NFL Sunday Ticket will cost on YouTube TV this season
Her superlatives are growing legion. She became the first female sports agent for PlayersRep in 2015, the first Black woman to represent a top-three NFL Draft pick in 2019, and the first Black woman to represent a Super Bowl participant in 2023 in Hurts.
The standard agent commission for NFL players is 3%, although exact figures may vary. Assuming Hurts plays out his entire contract, Lynn would rake in over $7 million in commissions from his new deal alone.
Representatives for Lynn did not respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment for this story.
Lynn did send out a tweet on Monday afternoon after reports of Hurts’s deal became public, saying that she found the Brinks truck she had been looking for.
The new Eagles deal will pay Hurts $51 million annually, the most in NFL history and the highest of any athlete in the four major American sports leagues.
The deal carries the third highest total value in NFL history at $255 million, trailing only deals inked by fellow quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills.
Read: How Patrick Mahomes makes his money: Adidas, Whoop and the Chiefs
Also: LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan: who is the GOAT when it comes to net worth?
Philadelphia went 14-1 in the games Hurts started in the 2022-23 season starts, and he had 3,701 yards passing, 760 yards rushing and 35 touchdowns combined in the regular season. He led the Eagles to the top seed in the NFC and a playoff victory over the New York Giants and over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game.
The Eagles fell to the Chiefs by three, 38-35, in Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12.
Read on: Super Bowl LVII was the 3rd most watched TV show ever. Nielsen says Rihanna’s halftime performance drew even more viewers than the game.
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