The Arizona Cardinals and left tackle D.J. Humphries agreed to a three-year contract through the 2025 season. It is worth nearly $67 million.
He handled his own negotiations for this contract instead of going through an agent.
He isn’t the first to do that in recent history.
Receiver DeAndre Hopkins negotiated his contract extension. Former Cardinals legend Larry Fitzgerald negotiated multiple contracts over the final seasons of his career following the passing of his longtime agent, Eugene Parker.
Humphries, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said it was not about anything bad that had happened with agents but rather something to prepare himself for his post-NFL career.
He praised the agents that did his last deal but said he wanted this experience.
“I probably wouldn’t do it again,” he said. “It was definitely fun to do.
“It was something I wanted to do. I want to be a businessman, so being able to do one of the biggest deals on my own for the first time, it was huge for me.”
He trusted that the team would not try to take advantage of him, so he was comfortable going through the experience by himself for the first time.
“I think it’s going to carry me on throughout my post-football life when I’m trying to do my own business deals,” he said, “I think I’ll have a lot more callous for all the stuff I’m going to try to do.”
There was one part that was hard for him — the “back-and-forth and the waiting.”
He admittedly is not a patient person, so the process of having conversations and then waiting a few days was difficult for him.
But now he becomes the only player since Larry Fitzgerald to have been drafted by the Cardinals and get two contract extensions.
With the deal, he can keep his dream alive of only playing for one team his entire career.
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