You Had Me at Shalom: The Jewish Jerry Maguire

With more than 800 certified agents in the National Football League (NFL), Ness Mugrabi has two things that make him unique. At 24, he is the youngest agent in the league and, to the best of his knowledge, the only one who is an Orthodox Jew.

How did an observant Syrian Jew from New York take the NFL by storm?

From a young age, Ness was a diehard Miami Dolphins fan even though he lived in New York. In 2011, the Dolphins got off to a rough start, losing the first six games of the season. With his ambition shining through, 12-year-old Ness called the Dolphins’ corporate office and asked to speak to coach Tony Sparano. The receptionist didn’t take the call too seriously, but Ness was persistent and kept calling.

Not knowing how to handle the pesky caller, the receptionist asked Reginald Sperling, the Dolphins’ guest services director, what to do. Sperling said to put his next call through to him. Sure enough, Ness called again. Sperling told Ness that the coach was in the middle of practice. The 12-year-old boy said that he just wanted to tell the coach to keep his head up and that he was supported by his fans.

Sperling was super impressed with Ness’s persistence just to show support and make another person feel better, and invited him and his family to an upcoming Dolphins-Giants game at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The Mugrabis were treated to field passes where they met the team and Coach Sparano, and got signed footballs. They enjoyed the game from the luxury of a suite, sitting together with Dolphin’s owner Steven Ross.

Later that season, the Mugrabis visited the Dolphin’s Stadium in Miami where they were treated to a five-star tour. Most importantly, Sperling ended up becoming a mentor to Ness.

Ness, 12, with Tony Sparano

Ness knew that his future was going to be in football. While studying at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, he spent every second he could learning about the sport. At the age of 16, he convinced his father to take him to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. The Combine is a four-day, invitation-only event that allows scouts to evaluate that year’s top draft-eligible players. The teenager walked around introducing himself by saying, “I’m just trying to meet people and build a name for myself in the business.” And that he did.

Asante Samuel Jr., David Canter, Ness Mugrabi and Cody Barton.

One night at the Combine, Ness recognized an agent from Florida area named David Canter. He introduced himself and told him he was a big fan of his work. Taken aback, Canter thought this must be some kind of prank. Sports agents aren’t usually recognized in public, but that’s how deeply Ness had been studying the sport.

Ness asked if he could intern with the seasoned agent. Seeing the young man’s dedication to his goals, David agreed and set Ness up with a remote internship. The relationship grew stronger. Canter brought his up-and-coming talent into every part of the business before his twentieth birthday.

At the age of 22, Ness became the youngest agent in the NFL. Today, Canter refers to him as his “co-pilot.” Together, they have around 50 clients including Cameron Sutton, DeMarcus Walker, and Xavien Howard. They have one Jewish client, Michael Dunn, who plays for the Cleveland Browns.

Commitment to His Faith

For most, sports agency is a seven-days-per-week job, but Ness works tirelessly to get it done in six. No matter what is going on in the world of football, Fridays and Jewish holidays the phone gets turned off. Canter, who is also Jewish, marvels at Ness’s commitment to his faith. “He has had hundreds of excuses to not be a practicing Orthodox Jew, to use an excuse to say: ‘Just this one time, it’s just too important, I got to skip Shabbos.’ He never, ever, ever, ever, has taken the easy way out. He has never not kept kosher. He never has just crossed into the gray zone once. And that’s the greatest compliment of the man that Ness has become that I can give.”

There have been challenging moments. Two of the biggest deals that Ness has worked on (Demarcus Lawrence for $105 million and Xavier Howard for $95 million) were negotiated Friday afternoon right before Shabbat. “Thank God, we got it done in time. It seems like God makes it that nothing important happens in football on Shabbat.”

Ness doesn’t sleep much, regularly responding to emails and texts into the wee hours of the morning. But he always makes time for spiritual growth. “I’ve been reading Aish.com for years now, and I listen to TorahAnytime every day.”

Ness understands that the highest level of tzedakah, charity, is to help someone provide for themselves. For young talent coming from college to the NFL, things can be scary. “At the end of the day, it is a billion-dollar corporation, and they’ll do anything to save a few bucks on a player.” Ness teaches his clients the ropes and set them up for professional success and greatness.

Ness got married a few weeks ago to his wife, Lauren, and they live in the Syrian Jewish community of Brooklyn. Lauren wasn’t much of a sports fan before they met, but the young couple do whatever they can to build their marriage while building the business. Lauren joins Ness on business trips all the time and sits right beside him at training camps and games. “She’s my partner in this journey for greatness that we are on.”

Representing the Jewish People

With antisemitism on the rise, Ness sees that he can play a vital role in combatting it from the position he is in. Knowing that he represents the Jewish people to individuals that have not had a lot of interactions with Jews, he constantly strives to be an upstanding individual. The Talmud teaches (Yoma 86a) to “make the name of Heaven beloved through you.” This is what Ness strives to do every single day.

Ness recently reached out to Jewish Patriots owner Robert Kraft to see how he could get involved with his recently launched “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” initiative. “People just don’t understand Judaism. It’s my job, it's your job, it's every Jew’s job to combat antisemitism. The way we do it is to show that Judaism starts with being a good person. We do the commandments between man and man as much as we do the commandments between man and God.”

Excerpts from this article were taken from NFL’s youngest agent is ‘obsessed with greatness,’ but nothing overshadows his faith, an article published by The Athletic