Do player sales pitches actually matter in NFL free agency? Tales of how they've landed

RUSSELL GAGE WAS taking out the trash at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, March 14, 2022 — two days before the official start of NFL free agency — when a random number popped up on his phone. Gage answered the call with suspicion.

«Hi, this is Tom Brady,» Gage heard on the other line.

Gage, about to hit free agency after four years as an increasingly productive wide receiver with the Atlanta Falcons, sensed a prank. But the unmistakable voice on the other end soon went into no-huddle mode, explaining in detail why he wanted Gage to become a Tampa Bay Buc.

«I was quiet for a good part of the conversation, trying to figure out what's real,» Gage said. «He took the floor about what they had going on there, things he wanted me to be a part of, [said they had] something special going on.»

Gage told Brady he would pass along the message to his agents at Athletes First, who were well aware of Tampa's interest.

«Wow, that was really Brady on the phone,» Gage remembers his fiancée, Kentrea, saying after Gage hung up. «I'm like, 'right? That man just unretired not too long ago.'»

Later that week, Gage signed a three-year, $30-million contract to become Brady's teammate with the Bucs.

Even as NFL front office executives and player agents laid the groundwork for 2023 free agency at last week's NFL scouting combine, an unseen aspect of the imminent frenzy of player relocation was happening well behind the scenes. NFL players are permitted to recruit prospective teammates — provided those players are not under contract to another team — and talent-hungry clubs are increasingly turning to their own players to help facilitate those deals.

The financial arrangement between player and team, and the free agent's football fit, will almost always be the