NFL Player Negotiates His Own Contract in 2016, Gets Cut in 2017

In 2016, Russell Okung negotiated his own contract with the Denver Broncos and it may have come back to bite him in 2017.

The offensive lineman was cut on Thursday by the Denver Broncos and even though he signed a five year deal a year ago, he essentially only ended up having a one year deal.

The move by Okung was praised by many last year as he was bucking the trend and not having to pay a agent for his services which meant more money in the bank for Okung.

At least that is what he and others thought, but that clearly isn't the case.

The deal Okung signed in 2016 was a 5 year deal "worth" $53 million. However, Okung ended up getting paid $8 million in 2016 with the remaining four years as options, the Broncos cut Okung without having to pay the remaining $45 million on the contract.

So what should this signal to other players in the league who were thinking about doing their own deals without agents? Don't do it unless you can get more money guaranteed than Okung. Plain and simple.

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