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The football world has gathered in Indianapolis for this year’s NFL Scouting Combine, creating the first opportunities for many teams to open negotiations with their pending free agents. The New Orleans Saints are no different from any other franchise in this regard, with contract talks starting all around the city in hotel conference rooms, coffee shops, and late-night steakhouses. With free agency right around the corner, it’s crunch time for agents representing those players to get the best offer on the table for their clients.
Sometimes those results are not satisfactory. When spurned by a team’s contract offer (or lack thereof), some players will change representation to find negotiators that are more or less aggressive for their liking. Now, we’re only speculating that Saints safety Vonn Bell followed that line of thinking, but it would make sense considering his contract expires in just a few weeks.
Nola.com’s Amie Just reported Saturday that Bell has changed agencies, having cut ties with agent Chad Speck of Allegiant Athletic Agency. Bell is now represented by David Canter of DEC Management, one of the largest agencies representing NFL players. His roster of clients includes Dallas Cowboys star pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence, who signed a five-year, $105 million contract extension last summer.
Don’t be shocked if Canter pushes the envelope quite a bit further with the Saints as negotiations heat up ahead of the NFL’s legal tampering deadline. Teams are allowed to make offers to pending free agents around the league beginning March 16, even if nothing can be signed until March 18, the start of the new league year.
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