NFL Agent on NIL: 'Unqualified People' Are 'Taking Advantage of These Young' Players

The new name, image and likeness rules in college football are presumably welcome developments for players who can now make money from their names, but at least one agent sees a downside to the recent developments.

Ben Standig of The Athletic conducted a survey of agents who represent NFL players, and one pointed to potential dangers in the new NIL environment:

"NIL. There's just no rules. They let the toothpaste out of the tube without any regulation. Anyone can say they're an NIL agent. I think that most legitimate agencies and agents are actually helping these kids and doing their best to help them make money and take care of them. The problem is you're seeing a lot of unqualified people that are out there taking advantage of these young men. These young men aren't being educated by their universities or by anyone to know the difference between someone who's actually there to help them and someone who doesn't know s--t from Cheyenne."

The NIL was a significant talking point of the past college football offseason. It came up in discussions about high-profile transfers such as wide receiver Jordan Addison and in back-and-forths with coaches such as Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher and Deion Sanders.

Perhaps the NCAA's attempt to fight players being paid for so long left it playing from behind when it came to making actual rules and guidelines for when NIL arrived. It did offer new guidelines in May, but it is clear some agents still feel like the system is still easily exploitable.

Which could leave college players in a difficult situation as they attempt to differentiate between those who, as the agent put it, are "actually there to help."