You might know that Jalen Hurts plays for the Philadelphia Eagles or that he has been to the Super Bowl before, but most people aren’t aware of the fact that his management team is entirely female, the first of its kind in the NFL.
His management team includes his agent Nicole Lynn, Chantal Romain and Shakeemah Simmons-Winter in communications, Rachel Everett in marketing, and Jenna Malphrus in management. On top of having an all-female management team, a majority of the women are also Black. This is so important since women, specifically Black women, are not well represented in the sports management world. Around 8% of NFL agents are women and less than 2% are Black women.
Nicole Lynn has not always worked for Hurts. It took a leap of faith for her to become his agent. In January of 2020, three months before the NFL draft, Lynn sent Hurts an Instagram DM. She asked him if he had an agent yet. If not, she wanted to talk. This was a “total Hail Mary,” as Nicole Lynn recounted, because most players already have an agent by the January before the draft. She didn’t expect him to respond, but he did.
Hurts chose Lynn to be his agent because he saw a fire in her that he felt in himself. They were both doubted, Lynn as a Black woman in sports management and Hurts as a quarterback selected at 53rd in the NFL draft. Neither of them let the doubts stop them; instead, it fueled them.
Lynn being a woman never fazed Hurts. He didn’t understand why people saw her as any less qualified than a man. All he cared about was her experience, resume, and the trust they had built. Hurts listened to Lynn’s experiences as a Black female NFL agent and is an outspoken advocate for women in sports. He prides himself on having an all-women team full of “hustlers” who get stuff done.
Jalen and his team have accomplished a lot since he entered the NFL. Hurts has led the Eagles to two Super Bowl appearances in his time as the Eagles’ starting quarterback and won his first Lombardi trophy yesterday. He also won Super Bowl MVP. In Super Bowl LVII, Nicole Lynn became the first Black woman agent to represent a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl. In 2023, Hurts and his team landed a five-year, 255 million-dollar contract, making him the highest-paid player in the NFL at the time, and getting him adequate compensation for his play.
There is no doubt that Hurts and his management will continue to do great things. Hopefully, his management team’s success will show other NFL players that women are just as capable of being agents as men.