Like many others, I believe that Mark Rodgers had a negative effect on Russ and his career. This is purely speculation, but it seems to me that Rodgers didn't give Russ good advice about how to handle his relationships with teams he played on.
From pretty early on, Russ presented himself as being antagonistic during contract negotiations, setting tight deadlines and leaking information (or misinformation) about teams he wanted to be traded to. Who is to blame? The common wisdom is that the client sets the tone, and the agent just carries out his client's wishes, but I find it hard to believe that Russ, who tried so hard to develop a "good guy" persona wanted that.
We'll never know what their relationship was, but by all accounts, they were very close. Maybe too close. Of course, that can only happen when you have just one NFL client. (By contrast, Wilson's new agent, David Mulugheta, represents 70 current NFL players.)
All we know is that through Rodgers' representation of Wilson from 2022 to 2024, he managed to alienate two fan bases and piss off several different coaching staffs and front offices. Maybe a better agent could have given Russ better advice about how to handle himself?
Before the trade to Denver in 2022, Matt Calkins of the Seattle Times wrote an article in which he opined that there was no way that Russ would force his way out of Seattle:
Calkiins can't believe that Russ really would turn his back on the Seattle fanbase and take the step that would turn him into a bad guy, lol. He concludes that Russ wouldn't force his way out of Seattle because no one is that crazy. Well, it turns out Russ was that crazy. Or was it his agent?
www.nbcsports.com
Now Russ is working with a "normal" NFL agent. Too late bud! Backup or retirement are your options.
