Clint Sintim is becoming a quick study in preparing for the NFL Draft

The sports agents had one goal in mind as they came in droves from all over the country last fall to meet with Kofi Sintim at his house in Woodbridge: Convince him they were ideally suited to represent his son Clint in preparation for a career in the NFL.
Recovering from spinal-cord surgery from the previous spring, Kofi Sintim was usually at home anyway so he had no problems welcoming all comers day or night. The one thing, though, that he wanted to make clear was that he was the point of contact in the first step of this important process, not his son.
Still playing football for the University of Virginia, Clint Sintim had enough going on and didn’t need to be hassled by the agents.
Sintim was well aware of all the buzz surrounding him as a projected first-round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, but he wanted to focus first on his season and then once it was over think about planning for his future.
There’s where his father stepped in.
“I know the neighbors were wondering what was going on,” said Kofi Sintim who met with 20-plus agents at his home, with the first one coming in September. “I’m a private person.”
Father and son had been through this type of situation before. As a high school senior, Sintim sorted through 16 Division I offers and received home visits from head coaches like Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen, Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer and Virginia’s Al Groh before choosing the Cavaliers.
But to Sintim, going through the recruiting process paled in comparison to going through the challenges of finding the right person who would meet his needs and look out for his best interests in the NFL.
Even though the 2009 draft was still more than three months away, selecting an agent was a necessary first step toward putting him in position to prepare for the pre-draft combines Sintim would participate in to show NFL teams what he was capable of.
It was just part of the package, even if it required from Sintim more patience, diligence and above all discernment than he had exercised before in his life.
“It’s the most stressful thing I’ve ever had to deal with,” Sintim said. “You are dealing with a complete stranger. To get the right result, you want to make the right decision.”

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As Michael Perrett and fellow agents Pat Dye Jr. and Bill Johnson started looking more closely last summer at who to target as potential clients for the 2009 draft class for their Atlanta-based ProFiles Sports, Inc., they liked what they saw in Sintim.
ProFiles Sports, which was founded 15 years ago by Dye, the son of the former Auburn head football coach, had a reputation for representing pass-rushing specialists like Sintim.
Among the agency’s 41 current NFL clients are linebackers Marcus Washington (Washington), Brian Urlacher (Chicago) and DeMarcus Ware (Dallas).
But beyond Sintim’s playmaking abilities, the three agents also liked Sintim as a person, viewing him as a grounded, hard-working and no-nonsense individual. So they went to work, trying to land Sintim as a client.
The agency maintained some contact with Sintim throughout the fall, but they had no lengthy face-to-face discussions until Dye and Perrett met with the family at the Sintim home in December after the Cavaliers season was over with.
Sintim was supposed to be there for the first meeting, but something came up at the last second and he could not make it. So his father sat down with the two agents and listened to their two-hour plus presentation.
At this point in the process, Kofi Sintim was well versed in what to look for from agents.
When he first started dealing with any of them, Kofi Sintim’s demeanor made it clear he wanted everything aboveboard and those he met with respected that.
He also wanted to know as much as he could about the process.
Kofi Sintim checked with the NFL Players Association to see what agencies might have been disciplined for improper dealings. He also talked to players, including those with ProFiles Sports, to get a feel for the company.
Sometimes, he said when talking to the various agents, he played dumb with the plan of not giving anything away. But no matter how he approached things, Kofi Sintim made sure everyone got a chance to make their pitch.
Kofi Sintim liked what he saw and heard about ProFiles Sports. The agency, who usually has no more than nine clients for each draft class, had nine players selected last year and has had 20 first-round picks overall. They’ve also had 12 different players make the Pro Bowl in the last seven years.
But even armed with all this information, Kofi Sintim didn’t make it easy on Perrett and Dye.
“His dad put us through the ringer,” Perrett said. “You had to get past him before anything.”
After the initial meeting last month, Perrett and Dye agreed to reschedule their plans and make a return trip to Woodbridge four days later to meet with Sintim. Perrett joked with Kofi Sintim, wondering if he was willing to sit through another long presentation, but he was fine with it.
“I did the homework for [Clint],” Kofi Sintim said. “That was the best thing I could do was to prepare him.”
After Perrett and Dye left, Sintim and his father weighed out the various choices. They had narrowed their list down to four, but in the end they felt most comfortable with ProFiles Sports.
Sintim said he delayed informing ProFiles Sports of his decision, jokingly saying he wanted to make them “sweat,” but in his gut, he knew they were the right choice. The fact that they were willing to come back and meet with him on short notice sealed the deal.
“I really appreciated that,” Sintim said.
Able to do so now that his college eligibility was used up, Sintim signed later that month and flew to Pensacola, Fla. to train at the Athletes’ Performance Institute. The facility, which is connected with noted orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, provides trainers and nutritionists to help athletes like Sintim prepare for the rigors of various combines.
With ProFiles Sports covering all the expenses there, API will be Sintim’s home for the months leading up to the draft.
Sintim will first showcase his abilities this Saturday when he and about 99 other of the nation’s top seniors will spend a week in Mobile, Ala. being measured and going through interviews and practices in front of representatives from NFL teams before participating in the Senior Bowl on Jan. 24th.
After that, he will return to Florida to prepare for his next test, the week-long NFL Combine, which begins Feb. 17 in Indianapolis.
It’s a busy time for Sintim as he adjusts to all the challenges in front of him. There is some down time and when he gets it, he checks with other teammates who are also NFL hopefuls.
He also talks to former teammates who are in the NFL, like defensive lineman Chris Long, the No. 2 overall pick last season by St. Louis.
Long and Sintim have known each other since Sintim’s senior year at Gar-Field when Long first e-mailed Sintim to come and play at Virginia. The two eventually became roommates sophomore year and have stayed close since then.
Sintim also has Groh as a resource. A former head coach with the New York Jets, Groh has already helped Sintim with the agent process, advising him on what to look for and what to avoid.
Sintim said he tries hard to stay away from looking at mock drafts, but sometimes he finds himself clicking one too many times on a site and then gets sucked into reading about what others are saying about him.
It’s at that point that Sintim catches himself and gets back on track. He is well-informed of his status and how it could lead to a first-round selection and a contract worth millions of dollars.
But he tries his best to keep a proper perspective, no matter how difficult it might seem sometimes.
“My main focus is day to day, but it is hard not to look down the road,” Sintim said.