It was the third play of the game.
Alex Anzalone, a former Gators linebacker and third-round selection by the New Orleans Saints, crouched low at Wembley Stadium in London, his body coiled, knees bent, waiting for his cue.
The ball was snapped. The Saints rookie burst from the left hash toward Miami Dolphins receiver Kenny Stills, wrapped him up and drove him into the grass. It was a textbook tackle.
But as he clutched Stills’ leg, Anzalone tore his shoulder, ending his rookie season just four games in.
In most cases, that’s when a player’s story shifts to rehabilitation. For Anzalone, it also meant seeing Jonathan Perzley, his agent, pushing him out of a Colorado hospital in a wheelchair, family in tow.
“A lot of agents, they send you off to the doctor,” Anzalone said. “I got surgery in Vail — a good specialist — and [Perzley]’s pushing me out in a wheelchair post-op with my family. A lot of agents just don’t care like that. It’s more transactional and less relational.”
That moment captures what elevated Perzley from a UF graduate with no clear plan to one of the NFL’s top agents. He has signed hundreds of athletes during his career, far more former Gators than anyone in the business, and he currently represents 56 players in the league. That’s over 3% of all NFL players.
“There's definitely smarter people than me that exist on planet Earth,” Perzley said. “The way I was raised was, ‘Doesn't matter how smart someone is; as long as you outwork them, you'll be okay.’”
Perzley, 41, laid the foundation for his journey on his first day of college, when he sat in a UF classroom with little clue of what he wanted to do with his life.
He was majoring in architecture.
His father knew an architect — who happened to drive a nice car — and he figured it would be worthwhile to look into the field.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, that seems like it’ll work,’” Perzley said. “That only lasted for a day.”
Perzley grew up as a nationally ranked tennis player, and he decided to draw from his athletic background by changing his major to sports management.
His career bloomed when he landed his first internship at CarrSports Consulting. Founder Bill Carr, a legendary Florida graduate, played on the Gators football team and became the youngest athletic director in program history.
The internship helped Perzley land his job at Sportstars, where he has remained an NFL players agent for nearly two decades. There, he’s built a reputation for being present in all facets of his clients’ lives.
“A lot of agencies, you get hired, you have a salary — that doesn't work for me,” Perzley said. “You have no upside. A lot of guys get bored, and they don't have a real motivation to really crush it for their guys. So for me, it's like every day my whole life is on the line.”
When Perzley was in college, he worked at the Bank Bar and Lounge, a popular now-closed Gainesville bar from the early 2000s. It was one of the few places in Gainesville with a 21-plus admission policy, he said. Florida athletes flocked there for its exclusivity.
The atmosphere let Perzley connect with athletes, who eventually became his business partners. The players started to take notice when he landed his job with Sportstars.
“That’s when everyone was like, ‘Oh s-–, Jon’s really going to do this f—ing thing,’” Perzley joked. “Without that, I might not have ever gone down this road, which is wild.”
When he signed his first client, the Cleveland Browns’ 2006 second-round pick D’Qwell Jackson, Perzley was just 21 years old.
Jackson played 11 years in the NFL and made over $42 million across his career in addition to being named to the Pro Bowl roster in 2014.
Jackson introduced Perzley to his family, friends and other players, expanding the agent’s network.
Later that year, Perzley began carving his true niche — signing Gator athletes — when he signed his first Florida football player, Jermaine Cunningham.
“Trying to get a young man and his family — because the families are usually involved in the process — to get them to trust a kid that's fresh out of college, that seems like an almost impossible task,” Perzley said.
“I would laugh at somebody trying to do that now, but I did it, and I had some really great guys that I signed early,” he added.
Cunningham started a longstanding trend. Since then, Perzley has signed dozens of UF athletes — past and current — with his agency.
From a client’s perspective
Perzley doesn’t look like the typical NFL agent.
His muscles are buried by tattoos — the first he got at 15 years old — and he sports a pierced left nostril. Ten years ago, it might’ve been difficult to distinguish him from one of his clients.
That’s his moxie. He calls himself a hustler with a unique set of traits.
“I was smart, but I was cool, and that's a rare combo,” Perzley said of his younger self.
But the thing that has made him stand out among other agents is the way he treats his clients. Shemar James, who was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, called Perzley a “cool dude” who he felt he could talk to about anything.
Anzalone, of the Saints, said Perzley is always “doing his best” to take care of him, from visiting him in the hospital to helping him and his wife find a stroller, crib and other child care items when the couple was having its first baby.
“You have to take the lives of these guys into your own hands and make sure that you're doing the right things with them,” Perzley said. “So when you can do that, but they can also enjoy a dinner with you, call you and talk and ask about your family, right? That's really important.”
But the three players who spoke with The Alligator said Perzley focuses on their comfort.
Kaiir Elam, a former UF player and Cowboys defensive back, didn’t reach his expectations when he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Coming out of college, he was one of the top defensive backs in the country and was the fourth-highest defensive back selected in the draft.
The former first-round pick’s playing time never increased despite an impressive rookie season where he started six games, recording 41 tackles, two interceptions and four pass deflections. After injuring his foot in his second season, Elam started just four games in his third year with the team despite making appearances in 13 games.
“They didn’t have my best interest at heart,” Elam said of his former team. “The upstairs were great; they wanted to see me succeed. But it was a lack of playing time.”
Perzley added that Elam is one of the hardest workers he knows, but the scheme the Bills ran didn’t maximize his client’s potential.
Elam was previously self-represented and connected with Sportstars and Perzley before he got traded.
“I just needed an opportunity, in a different set of eyes, to go show what I could do,” he said. “And I did.”
Perzley helped orchestrate a trade with the Cowboys and Elam in March 2025, and the former Gators defensive back is currently a starter for the team, logging 17 tackles with no interceptions or pass deflections through three games, as of Sept. 27.
Expanding his network
James and Elam are Perzley’s most recent examples of the pipeline he has established with his alma mater.
The NFL agent is also on the UF Department of Sports Management advisory board, where he oversees the college’s performance and provides insight based on his professional experience.
“I always said, ‘If I made it, it was going to be on the backs of helping University of Florida guys,’” Perzley said. "It's pretty cool to be able to give back.”
Perzley is constantly working with his professional clients and within UF, continuing to expand his relationship with Florida. Each weekend, he makes multiple trips to watch his clients play, talks business with them after the game and, more importantly, connects with them on a human level.
“Instead of, it’s like, I’m working for them, it’s like we’re a team together, and we’re working toward a common goal,” he said. “And I think I do that better than anybody.”
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on X @lukeadrag.
Luke is The Alligator's Sports Editor and is a senior sports journalism student. In his free time, he enjoys playing with his cat named Pete and going down a rabbit hole of niche professional athletes (shoutout Charles Sims).
